Winter in the northern hemisphere is not typically what car enthusiasts look forward to. However, the spectacle of racing valuable, high-performance cars on ice has made something of a cultural splash in recent years. That is, in no small part, thanks to the efforts of one Ferdi Porsche, great-grandson of none other than Ferdinand Porsche. And while the sport has largely been a European fascination, young Ferdi has quickly put it on the radar of American enthusiasts as well.
For the second straight year, his F.A.T. Ice Races – which started out in Austria, naturally – once again include US dates. The first one took place in 2025, in Aspen, Colorado, and it immediately outgrew that location. For 2026 the event has moved to the more accommodating spot in Montana. The sophomore American running will take place on February 26-27 in Big Sky.
But Porsche’s connection to ice racing extends all the way back to 1952 when the first Professor Ferdinand Porsche Memorial Race took place to honor the life of the company’s founder, who had passed away the year before, in the small lakeside town of Zell am See. That location mattered.
In 1944, in the midst of World War II, Ferdinand Porsche moved his engineering business from Stuttgart, Germany to the small Austrian town of Gmund, well out of the way of routine bombing by Allied forces. Conveniently, the family had already acquired a second home in 1941 in the lakeside town a couple hours away, which served as a retreat from the realities of life in those times.
In the years that followed the inaugural race, the sight of Porsche’s cars in wintry settings helped define the brand’s lifestyle appeal in visual advertising, long before that was common in the lexicon. Those early cars, especially, placed the weight of their engines directly over the drive wheels – a selling point for better performance.
But then things went silent. In 1974, at what had already become a popular annual event for both spectators and rivers, a plow truck fell through the frozen lake that served as the ice race track. He drowned, and the races were called of indefinitely, only being revived in 2019 at the insistence of Ferdi Porsche. Since then the Porsche scion has worked tirelessly to keep the tradition alive. Here’s a quick look at the history of ice racing and the Porsche’s connection to it.
1952-1974: The Golden Age
For more than two decades, the town of Zell am See, Austria hosted the annual Porsche ice races, drawing famous drivers as well as spectators from all over Europe. The races included classes for cars and motorcycles, extending beyond just Porsche cars in the races. There was also motorized Skijoring, or “ski driving” in which snow skiers were pulled behind cars and raced for fastest time, with speed sometimes exceeding 100 mph.
The tragedy of 1974’s snow plow incident put the racing on ice (pun intended) for nearly 50 years until the young Porsche heir started to reimagine it in 2019.
2019- 2021: Revival of Fittest
With the help of his former university roommate Vinzenz Gregor and professional racers Hans-Joachim Stuck and Richard Leitz, Ferdio Porsche brought ice racing back to Zell am See with the 2019 GP Ice Races. The event was an immediate success, drawing Porsche enthusiasts and other racers from around the world to play on the snow. The GP Ice Races revival lasted just two seasons before the global Covid pandemic saw its demise after the 2020 running.
2024-Present: F.A.T. Ice Races
Following a three-year hiatus, Ferdi brought the ice races back once again for 2024. This time the event carried the name F.A.T. Ice Races so named for his event logistics and transportation company. The races went global for 2025 with the addition of a race weekend in Aspen, Colorado. This year, the American races move to an even larger venue in Big Sky, Montana on February 26-27, 2026.
It looks as though the future oil ice racing is as secure as the ice itself is.