STEPHANE ORTELLI TAKES TO ASPEN ICE RACE IN LE MANS-WINNING GT1-98
The GT1-98 driven to victory by Laurent Aïello, Allan Mcnish and Stéphane Ortelli at the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans was undoubtedly the star attraction at Ice Race Aspen, a three-day spectacle of historic racing and demonstration drives held mid-february. This latest addition to the fast-growing GP Ice Race phenomenon (recently re-branded as the F.A.T. International Ice Race) is the brainchild of Ferdi Porsche, Ferry Porsche’s grandson, who five years ago revived the historic event staged on the frozen top of Lake Zell in Austria until 1974. Drawing Porsche enthusiasts from around the world to the tiny town of Zell am See (home to the Porsche family for generations), the reborn Ice Race has quickly become one of the most eagerly anticipated events in the international motorsport calendar, so much so the decision was taken to replicate the event in Aspen.
Why Aspen? Aside from a climate comparable to that of alpine Austria at this time of year, this small town perched high up in the Rocky Mountains has its own surprising motorsport history. In 1951, the first of five annual street races started here, right in front of Aspen’s famous Hotel Jerome, where a field of cars weaved through the unpaved streets. By the end of 1955, racing on public roads in Colorado was outlawed, but the ski resort town’s competitive spirit would linger for generations to come.
Almost seventy years later, Ice Race Aspen saw an eclectic collection of modern and historic race cars put through their paces at the Tree Farm in Carbondale, a few kilometres north of Aspen itself.
In order to allow a 592bhp twin-turbocharged rear-drive Porsche race car weighing little more than a thousand kilos to drive in such conditions, the Porsche Museum’s engineers fitted special winter tyres and raised the car’s suspension to allow room for the chunky rubber’s sidewalls. An additional pre-heating system (sourced from the 919 Hybrid) was also installed, with revised software to simplify the car’s complex operating procedure.
At Porsche’s invitation, Ortelli was reunited with the 3.2-litre racer. Colorado’s wintry mountainside is very different to Circuit de
La Sarthe (especially on that sweltering June afternoon in 1998, when the car took top honours at the daylong French enduro), but Ortelli points out how, despite the incongruous sight of the GT1-98 on snow, Porsche’s early sports cars were designed for and developed in mountains, with unparalleled traction, powerful brakes and finetuned steering sensitivity. Surely, though, the GT1-98 is defined by ultra-high levels of grip and downforce, plus huge top speed, such as when hurtling down the Mulsanne Straight? “You have to forget all that stuff,” he laughs. “Here, on snow, it’s more like ballet. The driver has to use weight transfer to turn, partly because the car is so stiff, but also because the steering rack is so quick. We all know you need to steer to compensate for the angle of a car when it goes sideways, but in the GT1-98, there isn’t much lock. This has been the most challenging part of driving the car at Aspen.”
Let’s hope for more Le Mans winners on snow at next year’s round of F.A.T. Ice Races.
HIGH LEVELS OF GRIP, PLUS HUGE TOP SPEED, SUCH AS WHEN HURTLING DOWN THE MULSANNE STRAIGHT