If you think motorsport is all about perfectly laid out racetracks, stopwatch precision, and people taking themselves way too seriously, the FAT Ice Race exists to prove you wrong. Imagine Le Mans–winning Porsches, air-cooled sports car classics, Dakar-inspired 911s, and even electric Taycans all being sent sideways on a frozen lake. Throw in some music, people partying in winter jackets, a few custom cars that were absolutely not designed for driving on ice, and you've got a vibe that's "too cool for school"!Yup, I'm a little old school myself, and when I sat down for a chat with Ferdi Porsche, the great-grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, to talk about how this incredible event came to life, I realized that I was talking to someone who was just as much a fanboy of car culture as I was. How This Whole FAT Ice Thing Started FAT International The idea was quite simple. Ferdi never planned to create some ultra-serious racing series. He wanted to bring something back that had history, but also felt more down to earth and more at the grassroots level.We wanted to bring something back with a lot of history. We thought it would be fun to have an open paddock, a place to party and get people excited about cars, even if they are not from that world, and that's kind of the start of this.FAT International That's all it took for the people who attended FAT Ice Race to have a good time and immerse themselves into car culture. FAT International ran a couple of events before COVID, and the response was immediate. People loved it. Not just the cars, but the energy. Ferdi said it best when he exclaimed that cars are an amazing conversation starter. You don’t need to know names, specs, or engine codes. You can just show up, look at something cool, snap a photo, talk to strangers, and leave with a new appreciation for the car world.FAT International Then COVID hit and paused everything — but instead of killing the idea, it made Ferdi want to go bigger. That’s when FAT became the umbrella brand. It tied together the heritage of Porsche endurance racing with a more modern, open, culture-first approach to motorsport. Same roots, totally new energy. However, all of this was done on ice, which made FAT Ice Race somewhat of a maverick car event. Why Ice Changes Everything (And That’s the Point) FAT International Ice racing flips motorsport logic on its head. Perfect conditions, and the physics that usually apply on the tarmac, go right out the window. On ice, nothing is fair and nothing stays the same for long. The track changes constantly, grip comes and goes, and even the best car can suddenly feel useless.“Formula cars don’t work on ice,” Ferdi said, almost laughing. Open-wheelers struggle. Race cars need higher ride heights, more steering angle, and totally different setups. Some cars shine. Others just… don’t. And that’s kind of the beauty of it.The event mixes everything. Proper race teams show up trying to optimize every detail. Then you’ve got private owners who just throw spikes on their car and full-send it just to enjoy the thrills. You’ll see legendary machines next to cars that look cool but barely work, and both belong there.While "race" is in the name of FAT Ice Race, it's not really about being the fastest. It’s about balance, control, and how brave (or stupid) you’re feeling that day. And, let's be real for a second. Watching expensive, iconic cars sliding around completely out of their comfort zone, in what can sometimes be called organized chaos, is way more entertaining than watching perfection. Old Porsches, Electric Monsters, and Everything In Between FAT International One of the wildest things at FAT Ice Race is how different generations of cars end up on the same frozen track. You’ll see air-cooled Porsches that still smell like the ’90s, Dakar-style 911s that look ready for the apocalypse, and then an all-electric Taycan absolutely destroying expectations. You also get to see legends like the 962 Dauer LM and the Porsche 911 carrera 3.2 4x4 Paris-Dakar.On the Taycan you don't need to do anything really. You fit spikes and it's one of the fastest cars around the track. It's got all the torque in the world and four-wheel drive. It's a monster for ice driving.FAT International FAT Ice Race may have started in Europe, but it’s officially gone global now. After popping up in Aspen in 2024, this one-of-a-kind car event is heading to Big Sky, Montana this month. It’s basically turned into a huge winter party for anyone who loves fast cars, snow drifting, cool style, and pure motorsport madness. This upcoming event once again promises to pull in drivers, fans, and adrenaline junkies from all over the world.FAT InternationalThere will once again be some rather interesting cars to check out, and you will also see a number of Porsche's, including the Taycan, which Ferdi says is one of the the fastest on the ice.Cold weather isn’t ideal for batteries, and yes, range drops fast when you’re flat-out on ice all day. But that’s part of the experiment. Ice racing shows strengths and weaknesses you’d never notice on a dry track. Growing Up Porsche, But Still Loving Cars Like A Normal Person FAT International You’d think growing up with the Porsche name would turn someone into a walking brand ambassador for the legendary sports car brand. Ferdi is refreshingly not that. He admits that when he was younger, he cared more about how cars looked. Now? It’s all about how they drive.The sweet spot for him is ’90s-era Porsches, like the 993 or 996. "They’re fast, but still analog. You feel everything. Steering, weight transfer, grip. No filters." he says.It was a great conversation with a man who might be expected to carry the legacy of the brand into the future. We spoke about how air-cooled cars still hit differently, not just because of how they drive, but because of what they represent. And just like me, Ferdi also favors the time when cars were simpler, and louder.And in a plot twist that I know a lot of our HotCars readers will love, Ferdi admitted he’s always had a soft spot for Corvettes. That information is either very cool or very dangerous for him to share with us. Nonetheless, it further cements the fact that Ferdi is just a regular car guy like the rest of us. FAT Ice Race Fits Right Into Today's Car Culture FAT International FAT Ice Race seems to be more of a community event than an all-out racing event. Ferdi sees motorsport becoming more open, more cultural, and way less intimidating. Younger people don’t just want to watch from the stands, they want to be part of something.That’s why FAT also focuses heavily on youth development, including karting programs that slash costs and make racing accessible to people who would never normally get the chance. Not every event has to be cheap, but the ecosystem has to be open.FAT International Ferdi backs this up. At the time of writing this story, the FAT Karting League had already announced that they will be assessing four young drivers in its 2026 Formula 4 Shootout. One of them will snag a spot in FAT Racing’s first fully funded Formula 4 racing opportunity worth about £500,000 ($685,000).While most motorsport is usually pay-to-win, this actually flips it to talent-to-win, which also means no rich-kid wallet required. And FAT says this is just the first step of a bigger plan to help drivers climb from F4 to F2, with the dream of eventually sending an FAT Karting League driver to F1. One Last Dream Drive FAT International Before we wrapped up, I had to ask Ferdi the ultimate car-guy question: if you could take any car, anywhere, just for the thrill of driving, what would it be and where? (And yeah—anything but a Corvette, obviously.)As any car enthusiast would, Ferdi's eyes lit up as he grinned from ear to ear, and I could see his imagination start to run wiild. But, his answer was even wilder.It will be a different answer every time. Let me exaggerate a bit though. A GT1 car. I would take it to Italy and just rip it. Flat out. Try to hunt down some Ferraris, and destroy them.At the end of the day, no matter how much heritage or engineering is involved, car culture still comes down to one simple thing, and that's driving for fun. The added benefit with FAT Ice Race is that you can do it while sliding priceless race cars sideways on ice.If there's a car meet somewhere on a frozen runway, with a bunch of fast classic sports cars on spikes, and a crowd cheering and dancing. Sign us up right now.Now, excuse me while I go look up how many winter jackets it takes to survive Big Sky!
