Ice racing season coming up

So I've spent my whole life in a place cold enough to do this, but haven't ventured off the pavement yet.  I'm thinking this will be the year I give it a shot. 

 My car I'm thin about using is setup for autox/track days.  But some older snow tires have been taking up space for it in my garage, so I'm going to try to finish them off this winter.  Just how different should my setup be. I'm a little limited do to not wanting to swap springs.  Seems to be the softer the better fro. What I've read.  So onto the car setup 

95 neon.  Koni adjustables, 500 lbs springs in front, 250 in rear.  Spherical bearings in the front control arms.  Big sway bar in the back, small one in the front.  

What I'm thinking is pull both sway bars off, and set the shocks to full soft.  Other than that, there isn't much I want to do.  

Any reason that wouldn't work ok?  I'm just looking to have a good time, being "fast" isn't a concern at all.  

Interested in this as well. I would imagine tires would be the biggest factor.

Many details are specific to the event when I looked in my area last year. Studded, unstudded classes, some seperated fwd/rwd, some didnt, at least one here requires 4wd/awd. Might be best to start with the rulebook like any other form of racing.

In reply to 79rex :

You want the best snow tires that are legal in your class. Older snow tires are going to leave you frustrated. It matters. 

Where are you located?

Put the stock springs back in it.

In reply to 79rex :

Soft suspension to deal with ruts that develop from studded tires. Good shocks, not racing shocks, shocks with a lot of travel. Good geometry is important. 
Old snow tires should not be used.   Taller tires 85 profile. Narrow width. 

Watching with interest.

500 lbs springs in front, 250 in rear.

Also, this seems like a really weird setup for a FWD car.

New tires work best.  Stock suspension, no sway bars.

 Since you won't be running in deep snow , stock width or even a little wider work well. 

Iceracing in upstate New York

In reply to iceracer :

Traction is reduced the wider you go.  Cars usually have narrow snow tires with two rows of studs. ( typical rules limit the number of studs per inch. ). 
 

In reply to poopshovel again :

Its odd,  and under construction.  But for some reason I got it to work incredibly well last season.  The use of 245s up front and 205s in back made it rotate with ease.  Sometimes too much.  The setup I've put together is certainly unorthodox, but I enjoy that part of it.

As for stock suspension, I really dont want to add the money on for that.  If it's a case of this just wont work put very well as is, I'm going to hold off until next winter when I have money to stick into a winter setup.  Or option 2 is take my daily driver, but I'm reluctant too.  As it's on a loan, all be it a small one.

I used to run a Sab 96.  Wider tires hydroplane in puddles, I used taller narrower skins; worked great.  Why disconnect the sway bars?

In reply to 914Driver :

pulling the sways to soften the suspension, that seems to be the better way to go from what I'm understanding

In reply to frenchyd :

Have you ice raced on studless tires ?

Or seen the latest studded tires ?

In theory an ice racer should have four sets of tires to meet the ice condition of the day.

In the video, it was a warm day, ice was soft.    Narrow would be the choice.

For wide vs narrow tires, it'll depend on the surface.  On colder, dryer ice or really solid hardpack, wider tires do better, as it's like pavement.  More contact patch = more grip.  If the ice is wet, studs make a huge difference.  If there's slush, loose snow, etc. on the surface, narrower tires will do better, as they'll cut through the crud layer better and get more bite on what's underneath.