1963 Motorcycle Ice Racing In Sweden - 3-Page Vintage Article

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1963 Motorcycle Ice Racing in Sweden - 3-Page Vintage Article<br>Original, vintage magazine article<br>Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page<br>Condition: Good<br>ONE OF THE MOST THRILLING forms of<br>motorcycle racing is ice racing. This<br>phase of the sport was born in Sweden<br>and is, at the moment, practiced in four<br>European countries — Sweden, Norway,<br>Finland and Soviet Russia. The latter na-<br>tion has become increasingly active, and<br>several matches between the four active<br>countries finished with victories for the<br>Russians last winter.<br>What is ice racing? Through the years<br>it has encompassed many forms. At the<br>very first, about 1920, enthusiasts began to<br>prove their bikes in acceleration races on<br>straightaways. As Swedish roads were very<br>bad then, test trials were held in the win-<br>tertime, on ice. Initially, warm sand was<br>frozen into the ice, and the riders com-<br>peted on unspiked tires — as on a sand<br>road. Later the clubs sanded out oval<br>tracks on the ice, about 1000 meters long<br>— but in some cases longer — and the<br>riders took part in track racing on ice.<br>Popular bikes were Harley-Davidson, In-<br>dian, Super-X, the Swedish V-twin Hus-<br>qvarna, and British machines such as Nor-<br>ton, Raleigh and Ariel. Still the bikes had<br>regular summertime tires.<br>Then some riders began to fit snow-type<br>chains on their tires. The riding technique<br>on the long flat tracks featured sliding, as<br>in speedway or American flattrack type<br>racing.<br>About 1930, there was a young rider<br>named Torsten Sjoberg who owned a<br>Douglas twin, one of the popular machines<br>(600cc) for track racing. This rider and<br>his two brothers were pioneers in the new<br>era of ice racing. Previously some riders<br>had tried to fit ice spikes instead of chains,<br>both for track racing and speed trials, but<br>these very short spikes were just to im-<br>prove the rider’s sliding technique. Torsten<br>Sjoberg fitted long (about one inch) spikes<br>which gave the tires a good grip, better<br>than the very best tire on summer roads.<br>The technique employed — instead of slid-<br>ing — a laid-over, precise, and traction-plus<br>course through the hard bends. It was a<br>thrilling style to watch, with the rider ly-<br>ing flat on the bike, his left leg scraping<br>the ice.<br>As this new technique sent the riders<br>faster through tighter corners, the clubs in-<br>troduced small quarter-mile courses, like<br>speedway tracks. Riders started, at first,<br>one on each side of the track but, as they<br>became more and more experienced, they<br>took off three and three at a time. This<br>is the usual set-up in Sweden today, but<br>in the Soviet Union riders start four and<br>four in their heats, with the same point<br>system as in speedway racing.<br>ROAD RACING ON ICE<br>As many know, Sweden was a great<br>road racing nation in the ’thirties. Hus-<br>qvarna produced their famous V-twin<br>motorcycles for grand prix races and had<br>a very successful factory team with riders<br>such as Gunnar Kclen, Ragnar Sunnqvist,<br>and others.<br>In the wintertime, regular road racing<br>was stopped by the hard weather in Swe-<br>den. But then came the idea of fitting<br>spiked-type tires as used on the ice racing<br>machines. Snow was shoveled away from<br>the ice and tracks of 1000 to 2000 meters<br>with both left and right hand corners were<br>laid out. The mass start of 20 or 25 ma-<br>chines was a great spectacle, as one can<br>imagine. Riding technique was similar to<br>the sprint machine type, with very hard<br>leaning in the corners, but as the tracks<br>were faster and without such sharp turns,<br>the style of the riders did not invo