Patrick Jutras throws up the horns as he rides Sleepy, a 1991 Nissan 240SX, around the ice track at Ghost Lake, a popular destination for ice drifting.
Patrick Jutras took two laps around an ice track on Ghost Lake, to warm up the tires on Sleepy, his 1991 Nissan 240SX.
Mr. Jutras and his girlfriend, Des King, are regulars at the lake about 60 kilometres west of Calgary, where driving enthusiasts rip around three ice tracks in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
“When your tires are cold, you’ll be slipping quite a bit. You’ll have very little control. But after a lap or two of spinning the tires, they dig into the ice properly,” he said during his slowpoke circles.
Mr. Jutras and Ms. King were here for the drifting, a motorsport where drivers, essentially, slide sideways through corners.
At Ghost Lake, some drift smoothly through the main track’s rounded corners, while others spin doughnuts with varying degrees of intention. Some end up stuck, stalled, or otherwise sidelined.
About 40 vehicles gathered on the ice near the main track on the last weekend in February, with clusters of friends and families milling around campfires and watching the action.
Mr. Jutras’s ride is tricked out for drifting – Sleepy sports a chassis mount wing for show and a hydro brake to lock the rear wheels during controlled slides – but this crowd does not discriminate based on make and model.
“Anyone can come here, if you’ve got a little Civic, if you’ve got a built racecar. No matter who it is, you’re all here sharing the one hobby,” Mr. Jutras said.
After Sleepy’s tires warmed, Mr. Jutras picked up the pace, drifting through one of the track’s corners, passenger door first. Snow spewed from the tires as he slipped wide to the outside, passing slower drivers. Sleepy’s speedometer crossed over 80 kilometres an hour.
“The magic is you turn into the corner, you accelerate, you lose your rear end, you stay on the gas and you just steer where you want to go,” he said. Mr. Jutras then smoothly straightened out the car and navigated a bend in an almost-straightaway, with puddles on either side. “It is a bit of a dance when you are going corner to corner.”
Calgary’s drifting scene migrated from the city’s industrial parking lots to Ghost Lake a few years ago, Mr. Jutras said.
The tracks are on the north side of the bridge at the Ghost Reservoir Provincial Recreation Area, and regulars said RCMP officers occasionally swing by to make sure everyone has their registration and insurance papers in order. Insurance, however, will not pick up the tab for repairs from bumps, crashes and breakdowns on the track.
In the summer, drifting fans congregate at a skid pad in Claresholm, about 130 kilometres south of Calgary. The motorsport has deep roots in Japan.
Mr. Jutras and Ms. King have nearly a dozen vehicles between them and fix them up together. Ms. King spent the afternoon doing laps in Marshmallow, a new-to-her 1992 Mazda Miata NA. She had the top down and a tuque on.
“I’m just learning how to drift,” she said, adding she picked up the battered car about a week prior for $1,500. “And so it’s the best option.”
Revving engines serve as the track’s constant soundtrack. Experienced drivers pack extra oil and tools.
Sarah Brazeau took her CRF250 Honda dirtbike out on the track with studded tires to handle the ice.
Sarah Brazeau was at Ghost Lake with her fiancé Eliot Poirier. Ms. Brazeau lapped the track on her CRF250 Honda dirtbike, with three-quarter-inch studs on the tires. It had been about two years since she took a spin around the track. Ms. Brazeau extended her left leg as she rounded the corners, giving herself a chance to stay upright in case she skidded out. “The adrenaline,” she said after exiting the makeshift speedway. Her arms were tired, her mouth was dry. “It feels powerful to be on such a machine.”
About 10 vehicles were on the track at any given moment, making it so drivers had to manoeuvre around others, but not an overly crowded day on the ice. A couple of side-by-side off-road vehicles also looped the almost-oval.
“It gets me away from the typical, boring crap that we do everyday in life,” Ms. Brazeau said. “It is just like an escape.”
Ms. Brazeau, fiancé Eliot Poirier and their friends gather around the fire at Ghost Lake.
Editor’s note: Since the reporting of this story, ice conditions on Ghost Lake have deteriorated and drifting may be dangerous.
Carrie Tait