I'm not sure why this would be considered a desirable addition.

One of the wilder forms of motorsport from the land that brought us Le Mans and the Dakar Rally is ice racing. (Check out the Andros Trophy)

These cars spend a lot of time going sideways with spray and ice chips flying everywhere and so are fitted with wipers on the side doors.

When I lived in Geneva we used to go to Chamonix to watch some crazy ice racing.

like this

www.seechamonix.com/events/videos/video-4th-septem...1

A shame the late Queen didn't give an opinion on some of the mechanical items. An easily- accessible timing belt might be better than a chain on the Ingenium engine?

A shame the late Queen didn't give an opinion on some of the mechanical items. An easily- accessible timing belt might be better than a chain on the Ingenium engine?

Timing chains "should" be designed to outlast the rest of the engine, ie never need changing

They are. The chains on most well made chain driven engines are non maintenance items. Assuming they are kept well lubricated they should never wear enough to 'stretch' beyond the tensioner's limit. The Triumph slant four engines hardly ever needed chain replacement. I have never heard of any W12 engine needing new chains or guides since they were introduced over 25yrs ago. Also, a well designed belt arrangement, e.g.Ford's 1.6 Zetec, should last the life of the car. Ours did. As did that of our 242,000 mile Passat (although the tensioner pulley needed renewal). I'll keep you posted about our 'wet belt' Peugeot which I have no intention of ever changing but at its current rate of mileage accrual I suspect it will probably outlast me.