This non-review has been two years in the non-making. Last season, I was the only one in our entire test panel to seek out the i.Race and was rewarded with a couple of my favorite runs of the year. This year I enticed Corty Lawrence, erstwhile co-owner of Footloose Sports who could be the poster boy for the Power skier, to ski the i.Race (and the i.Speed Pro) alongside me. As we tootled along, out of the corner of my eye I saw Corty load up the front of the i.Race with such force the ski reacted like a stung mustang, snapping off an arc so tight it literally spun Corty uphill. His only recourse was to pivot around his hip in a freestyle maneuver we called the Polish Donut, completing a 360 degree slalom turn.

The point of sharing this vignette is the i.Race needn’t be over-stressed to respond with a whiplash turn that belies its heft. Corty’s episode in over-steer is more testament to the i.Race’s explosive wallop in a small package than any inherent instability. It hugs the road with the stability of a semi equipped with the reflexes of a roadster. If you’re free-skiing on it, you’ll want to find some gates just for giggles, and if you’re racing on it, you’ll itch to get it back on the open slope. A busman’s holiday for an active racer, it’s a slippery fast, sizzling stick for the ex-racer who wants to re-live former glories.