Can a MotoGP Bike Claim Victory Over Formula One in Red Bull’s Ultimate Winter Race?

Five specialized racing machines met on a frozen lake in Eagle River, Wisconsin, where temperatures sat at minus 17 degrees Celsius and the ice stretched across 107 acres. Oracle Red Bull Racing brought its 2011 championship-winning RB7 Formula 1 car, the same machine Sebastian Vettel used to claim the title, and placed it against a KTM RC16 MotoGP bike, a Subaru WRX ARA rally car, a Pro 4 off-road truck, and a Ski-Doo 440 snowmobile. Red Bull built custom courses for each vehicle so that natural advantages in the cold would not decide the result before the start. Shorter inside lines favored the Formula 1 car and the motorcycle while the snowmobile, most at home on the surface, ran the longest route.

Patrick Friesacher had a difficult time getting the RB7 to cooperate after the team increased the ride height and fitted studded tires in a frantic attempt to gain traction on the ice. Dani Pedrosa, on the other hand, was riding a MotoGP bike that had been modified with 207 spikes in the front and 300 in the back, as well as reduced suspension, steel brake disks, and a remapped engine to get it exactly perfect. Scott Speed, a former Formula One driver and three-time Global Rallycross champion, was driving the Subaru. Andrew Carlson, on the other hand, was driving a Pro 4 truck with a 950 hp V8 under the hood, and Gunnar Sterne, a snowmobile specialist from Chicago, had seen more ice than the rest of the group combined.

The first circuit around the course demonstrated how evenly matched the field actually was. Friesacher set the pace at 1:11, with Pedrosa and Sterne following closely at little over that. Carlson and Speed lagged by just over a second and a half. So effectively, the entire field was packed into a two-second window before they even started.

When the flag was dropped, the snowmobile took off like a bullet, while the truck took off from a ramp (and the RB7 lurched). Pedrosa took advantage of the bike’s small weight to establish a head start on the pack before focusing on cutting good lines through the tight turns. Halfway through, it was still a group, and it remained that way until the final bend, when Sterne leaned all his weight into the snowmobile, attempting to catch the bike, but Pedrosa was home free, crossing the line a second ahead of the rest. Sterne finished second, Friesacher third in his RB7, Carlson fourth, and Speed fifth.

Afterward, Friesacher stated that, as expected, the cold compelled him to make some changes to the tires and ride height. He mentioned that if he had longer spikes, he would have done much better. He also remarked how simple it was to come in too quickly and lose grip, which was exacerbated by understeer, which required constant minor tweaks to get back on track. Dani Pedrosa thought the start of the race was essential since the bike was so light, but he also claimed that having the perfect line through the tight turns made all the difference.

Surprise, surprise, the engine fared nicely in the harsh cold. Sterne was just amazed that he was able to race Formula One and MotoGP machinery on ice, and stated that the entire event came down to who could gain the best grip. Speed, on the other hand, just watched the RB7 struggle to obtain any grip on a surface for which it was never designed. Carlson stated he admired Pedrosa for being prepared to risk losing traction, and that he improved his game as the laps progressed.