1995 polaris 600 xcr

It just happened that we were visiting Polaris' Minneapolis, Minnesota marketing offices the day after the official news about the new Indy 600 XCR was released. There were some big grins on the faces of snowmobile product planners despite the fact that they were trying to affect a somewhat nonchalant attitude about their newest introduction. But you could tell that they were extremely pleased with the new 600 Indy. Extremely pleased.

As we read the release that crossed our desk just before the Thanksgiving holiday, we recognized that this Indy should be a serious competitor on the racing circuits this season - and a serious marketing challenge for the other three snowmobile manufacturers next year. What Polaris has effectively done is create a reason for XLT owners to move up the performance ladder. In fact, initially, it may have been a concern of Polaris marketing staffers that the new 600 XCR might upset some pre-season purchasers who had put money down on XLT specials last spring. Polaris is very sensitive about keeping its owners happy, so they had prepared a remedy, despite the fact that the 600 XCR model is a very limited production build. While many of the 600 XCRs will be seen in the hands of competitive racers, you may well see some of the most loyal Polaris owners aboard the white and red triples as well.

You don't have to be a brain surgeon to recognize that this sled is designed to give Brian Sturgeon and Cat's oval racers fits in stock classes. Take a look at the new seat. It has a padded cover that extends onto both sides of the tunnel. It's designed to make oval racers more comfortable when pounding through the turns. And, since this seat is a production item, it will probably be allowed on other Indy oval stockers as well. Then there is the new front suspension which can be adjusted to offset the front skis for better oval tracking performance. All the pieces necessary to make this sled ready for the ovals are included in a parts box that comes crated with the sled.

The new sled gets the XCR Special's XC-101 suspension which consists of a more adjustable front limiter strap set-up and quick adjust rear arms. Don't forget the chromolly pieces on the Independent Front Suspension nor the use of re-buildable Fox shocks. Ski stance measures 41 inches center to center which should also make this sled a top notch stock racing machine.

According to Polaris dealers, the only way to tell the 600 XCR apart from the XCR Special is the red "600" logo on the side of the white-out racing windscreen. If you can count, you'll note the extra cylinder as soon as you pop the hood on this new Indy. It comes with a seriously upgraded XLT-based triple. The three cylinder engine has been bored out one millimeter to give it a 65x60 bore and stroke (versus the 580 XLT bore and stroke of 64x60mm). The result is a 19cc increase in displacement to 598cc. The engine has special porting changes, the use of Koenig pistons, new exhaust system and addition of 38mm carbs. As we discovered during out Shoot-Out, the engine also has nicasil cylinders which need to be run-in for peak performance. Our Shoot-Out dyno evaluation showed the sled to actually pony up less horsepower than the 580 XLT Special. But, we've been told that once the engine is run-in and the pistons, etc., are seated properly, the horsepower will go up. We weren't told how much, but we do know that this sled can easily run with a Formula Z which the dyno showed as being 10 horsepower stronger out of the box that the 600 XCR. So, your guess about power is as good as ours.

The new 600's engine is 1.12 inches lower due to use of a Storm-based bulkhead which also effectively lowers the center of gravity and should result in improved handling for both oval and snocross.

The new sled has a reinforced block pattern track with guide clips on every pitch and a 9.5 U.S. gallon fuel tank.

As we mentioned, the 600 XCR is a very limited production model and was shipped to dealers the week of November 2, 1993. The 600 XCR is the one that Don's Polaris of Old Forge, New York set up for the fourth annual Battle of Old Forge. It was part of a shipment to eastern Polaris dealerships and was off-loaded, in the crate, at the C&H Dyno in Batavia, New York the weekend preceding the Shoot-Out. Other than production line starting tests, the engine was first run up on the C&H Dyno for Shoot-Out evaluation. For overall impressions of the 600 XCR on the dyno, you'll want to get hold of the next issue of DynoTech (call 716-344-1313).

Based on first impressions, it looks like Polaris has another winner on its hands. We'd venture to guess that next year's "600" will be a popular item and that there may be more than one form of this sled. We'd expect to see the XCR version continue, but we won't be shocked to see an XLT-style model with the bigger engine but less costly suspension components that will keep Polaris at the top of the heap when it comes to top cat in snowmobiling.