Kent Kraft/For the Gazette Workers use a fire hose to create an ice track for today's Winter Baja at Michigan Tech.

HOUGHTON – People passing by the Student Development Center (SDC) at Michigan Technological University (MTU) this week caught a glimpse of an unusual winter ritual: a student equipping a fire hose purposefully creating a sheet of ice. They worked in preparations for today’s Winter Baja event where teams from around the country are here to compete in a variety of events with single-seat baja style cars they’ve built.

According to Adeline Doyle, Winter Baja Coordinator and current MTU student, workers have been utilizing the fire hose “24/7” since Monday as they attempted to build up an ice sheet long enough for a racetrack. “We want to get the ice as thick as possible, but we aim for at least an inch,” she said “We have a skid steer and a side-by-side loaned to us by Houghton Building Supply and M&M Powersports. We take those out on the track and break up all the light, thin ice and push it into the ground, then rewater the areas to make it smooth. All these giant berms were built using a groomer, a trail groomer, just like they use out on the ski hills.”

While good progress continued, the team faced several hurdles they were still working to overcome Friday. “We normally have two fire hydrants we can use, but one of them is broken right now,” Doyle commented. “Also, several of our hoses froze and we had to thaw them out for many hours before we could bring them out to use again.”

Plans were to finish before cars took to the track today, and contingencies are also in place according to Doyle. “We’re hoping to get ice on the last section that hasn’t been watered yet on Friday. If anything happens where we can’t get ice on it, we’ll either pack the snow down as much as we can and hope that holds for the cars, or we’ll cut off the top of the field and just lose one small section of the track.”

Despite a few troubles along the way, Doyle and the team is happy to have the Winter Baja race back at MTU. “This is essentially the same layout as we had three years ago, the last time we were here at MTU. It holds a special place in our heart, for those of us that remember racing here, and we’re excited about being here.”

For the public, the events start at 8 a.m. with the hill climb and the pickled egg slalom. Those coordinating the event start their day much earlier. “Sound and lighting systems from MTU will come out at 2am on. They set up all the speakers and a giant arch at the start/finish line for us. Then, around 4 a.m., we’ll start getting out IT trailer set up for the car transponders. Each car has its own transponder so we know how many laps each car finishes.”

Doyle offered a more thorough explanation of what the pickled egg slalom entails. “This event is our homage to the area by making people from all over who come here eat a picked egg because a lot of them have never had one before. There will be a driver in the car who has to make it through the slalom course and come to a full stop.”

Once they have finished the slalom portion, a judge watching the event will tell the driver’s teammate to eat a pickled egg. “They have to fully eat it and swallow it, and when they show the judge it’s gone, then the car will be released to finish the course. The time the cars set for that event will set the starting grid for the endurance race.”

The full course, used in the endurance race, is designed to test cars in a variety of ways. Doyle explained, “The back part of the course is supposed to be a lot more challenging for cars, and the front course challenges the drivers to go fast, maneuver, and pass other cars. We try to have a little bit of a variety of features for cars to test their abilities.”

At the same time, Doyle said the course is a challenge for the cars and not all of them will finish the race. “Last time we ran this course, some teams were pushing sixty laps by the end. Other teams were only able to get in 10 laps as their car broke early and they couldn’t get it fixed again in time.”

“Some of the berms are built steep enough that cars can jump if they’re going fast enough, but we kept enough of a lip so that they don’t have to. We have several throughout the course to simulate jumps because this race is already really hard on vehicles… we want some to make it to the end.”

The public is encouraged to come to this free event taking place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, at Tech Parking Lot 24. That is where all the dynamic events will take place as well as where the pit lane and start/finish line is located for the endurance race. Spectators are asked to park in Lot 22.