Goodwood in the snow? What is Ferdi Porsche’s GP Ice race?

Hello and welcome to GP Ice Race. Somebody recently described it to me as cars and coffee in a cold place. But the reality is there is so much more to it than that. Or rather, there should be. Here's the issue. The temperature is too warm. Which means instead of GP Ice Race, we've got GP Slush Race. So instead of cars going round, we've got peace bashers. But anyway, let's make the most of it and show you what it's all about. And the best way to do that is to interview the man behind it, Ferdi Porsche. And yes, he's a member of the family. Okay Ferdi, GP Ice Race. Fat Ice Race. Let's do that again. My dad bought a 550 Spyder that used to belong to my grandfather. It was actually his company car, basically. And then he sold it to Urschke von Harnstein, a famous racer. And he raced it on the frozen lake. And when my dad bought the car, here, in the 50s. And when my dad bought the car, the Spyke tire came with it. I didn't even know about Ice Race before that. But I was obviously, in my family, you have to be a car enthusiast. And then it's kind of like, being around cool cars, it's also easy to be a car enthusiast. And when this idea, or when this thought of Ice Race was in the head, someone would plant it back there. I thought, we have to bring this back, it would be so good. 2019 was the first time we did it. And then we did it twice. And then came Covid. And then we had one weather... Last year was a weather debate. There was no ice whatsoever. This year we had perfect ice up until four days ago. And then it became warm. But honestly, it was kind of a spring edition this time. But I think it was great. We had sun all day long. The cars were great. I mean, there's no track left. But I think that's the idea of it. The car is the centerpiece, but the people bring the party at F.A.T. I mean, I think we saw some pretty good action today. Even though everything was a little more slushy, which makes it more complicated, obviously, for the cars. Some of the lower cars were not as quick as they should be. A few bumpers missing. That's also the idea. And all the rallycross cars, for example, were so quick. And I think everybody had a blast. We're doing many different events now with F.A.T. In summertime, we have our hut on Großglockner, the high alpine road. It says F.A.T. International there, not F.A.T. Austria. So we figured we should do something on the other side of the pond. I mean, the Americans have a great car culture. They're hyped about it. It's as diverse as it is here. Maybe even more diverse. And we figured, let's do it over there as well. But obviously, it's got traction with people, hasn't it? Because you've got big brands wanting to come here and be part of it. And join in. Yeah, I think it's a lot of young people here. I think from the start, most of our advertising, most of the times we told people about Ice Race was via social media. And I think they're all looking for honest, cool events where the $5 million cars ride next to $20,000 cars. And nobody cares. And it's just cool. It's just an eclectic group of cars, isn't it? It's just a hilariously diverse bunch of cars. The idea is to celebrate motorsports and cars. And they're the centerpiece, but you get inspired from them. You can talk about design, architecture. You can talk about the technical aspects. You can just talk about the looks of it. And you see them. Ice racing at Zellamsee dates back to 1952 when the track here hosted the inaugural Dr. Porsche Memorial Skijoring race. Yep, Porsche was involved back then as the family kept a home here even after the company had moved to Stuttgart. By 1957, the event was welcoming 5,000 people. But enthusiasm waned. And when Ferdi bought it back in 2019, it was after a gap of 45 years. If you hear me referring to GP Ice Race throughout, sorry, it's a force of habit. As Ferdi says, it's now the Fat Ice Race. It takes its name from the sponsor of the Porsche 962 that won Le Mans in 1994. So this is the pit lane, for what it's worth, at GP Ice Race. The entire length of this tarmac strip as far as it goes. So I'm going to take you down and show you everything. Starting with this very cool Corvette, which earlier on the ice had its bumper pulled off. Anyway, but look at the chunky tyres and stuff on it. Looks fantastic running on studs. Right, now, we're off to this. Now, as you'd expect from an event organised by a bloke called Ferdi Porsche, there is a heavy skew towards that brand, including a couple of Ruffs over here. And rally and race-prepped Porsches, they are everywhere you look. So most of the stuff is parked up on the tarmac over there, but some of the cool stuff has been allowed to come out on the snow, like a 917 over there. But I think this might be a little bit of a favourite of mine. 356 on studded tyres, looking beautiful, with a load of old sledges on the back. That's brilliant! The Tommaso Pantera, uber cool. Bit of a half-hearted attempt at getting your skis involved, though. I mean, look at this for a line-up of Porsche Spiders. OK, slight deviation from the main drag, but I got distracted by a pair of gold beach buggies, which just look terrific. Slightly ratty, slight smell of petrol, but this is my favourite one. Look, tracks and skis. Looks like it's all ready for Evel Knievel. Right, we're about midway down the run now, and we're going to stop and spend a bit of time here, because this is something I want to talk about. Basically, big brands like partnering with small little events, because they look better coming out of it. Anyway, here's Volkswagen shouting about 50 years of the Golf, and they've got a little bit of shouting to do, because it's the new Mark 8.5 Golf. There's usually a Golf R parked over there, but that's out tearing around the track at the moment. So the one we've got to look at is the new hybrid Golf. It's the one you'll end up buying, to be honest, because it comes in two different versions with 148 or 197 horsepower, and the battery is now twice the size. It's 20kWh, so it should do, like, 60 miles on a charge, which is not very interesting, is it? But it's important. But the one we are interested in and can have a look around is the new GTI. Not that exciting in this day and age, maybe, but you always know where you are with the Golf GTI. It's the firmest automotive anchor there is. And here it is, the new Golf GTI Mark 8.5. They haven't really changed very much. We have new bumpers, front and rear, and the return, most importantly, of the telephone dial alloy, although it looks a bit Alfa Romeo-ish to me now. Speak to the engineers and designers, and there's a tacit admission that things had slipped a bit with the GTI. With the whole Golf range, in fact. Now, there haven't been very many mechanical changes, because Volkswagen doesn't really do that. The biggest one is the engine, which instead of 242 horsepower is now 262. Most significant changes, though, are inside, where we find this little thing. Automatic gearbox, 7-speed DSG. The important thing to note about it is that it's not a manual golf ball gear lever, because the manual has died. It was only 5% of sales, so Volkswagen has done away with it. It's this or nothing now in a Golf GTI. However, what you have got, two really significant things in here, which shows Volkswagen's been listening to customer feedback. These little sliders here, that were so widely criticised because you couldn't see them at night, are now illuminated. And the other thing I absolutely loathed was the haptic feedback touchpads on the steering wheel. They've gone as well. You've got proper pressy buttons. It's a revelation. Right, that is enough on the new Golf GTI, but for the 50th anniversary stuff, look what else they've bought. They've got an original Mk1 GTI, which just looks so neat and deft and perfect these days. For a Mk2, they've got a Rally, which is uber cool and a bit rare and exotic. No Mk3, and that's fine. I'd have skipped the Mk3 as well, because it wasn't much good. They've given the Mk4 a pass with an R32. I didn't think much of that. They should have had a Mk5 here, though, because that was excellent. Now, on the whole, I don't mind all these brand integrations that are going on here, but parking an all-new Countryman next to an original Rally Mini just shows where it's all gone wrong. Porsche's turned up with the 1,000-horsepower, all-electric Cayman, the GT4 e-Performance. And even more guttingly, I was meant to be having a ride in this Spyder RS with Mark Webber. Again, fallen victim to conditions. Yep, that should have been me, bouncing around the circuit like a toddler on a trampoline, hurling snow and mud into the crowd and generally having a real blast. But at least the show went on, even if not all the cars were able to join in. For a period in the morning, it looked a lot like nothing would happen out there. So what's Fat Ice Race like? I think the temptation is to believe that with the big brands involved and the strong social media presence, this is a big event. It's not. This is not the Festival of Speed on ice. There's little crowding. You can get to the barriers to watch the cars, get to the bar for a drink, huddle around a fire if you get cold, talk to people about their cars. It feels intimate and friendly, not yet the commercial force you sense it could become. With Aspen coming next, it's expanding. But with snow not guaranteed, there's an element of chance at play. Cars, mountains, daftness, snow, Fat Ice Race is a great spectacle. Mega day, corking event, but just one thing, I haven't done any driving. But I'm going to change that now in this ridiculously bright Lotus Elise.