1998 formula 500
Amsnow
In the world of snowmobile marketing, each company knows what models are selling in competitive lineups. It didn't take a rocket scientist- though Bombardier surely has a few in its aerospace group- to figure out that the Indy 500 was a top seller for Polaris. How would Ski-Doo counter? With the Formula 500, naturelment!
It is amazing how similar the Formula and Indy truly are. Each feature trailing arm front suspensions and long travel sport-touring rear suspensions. The Formula 500's front suspension measures 7.7 inches of travel versus the Indy 500's 9.5 inches. The rear travel is nearly identical at 10 inches versus 10.2 inches for the Indy 500's XTRA-10. The Ski-Doo relies on gas shocks for travel control at all points, where the Indy uses a gas cell and hydraulic shock at the rear.
The Formula 500 is a curvaceous machine with bold red styling that matches the attitude of the recently upgraded Rotax 499cc liquid-cooled twin that sits under the hood. This is a sassy little twin with even more attitude for '98 thanks to the addition of exhaust valve modifiers. On the intake side, you get rotary valves for precision metering of the fuel delivered by twin 38mm Mikuni carbs. On the exhaust side, you have the Rotax Adjustable Variable Exhaust, which effectively adjusts the height of the cylinders' exhaust ports to provide improved low end and mid-range performance and a freer flow of exhaust at top end revs.
Our test riders rated the Ski-Doo well in critical performance areas like ride and comfort, overall handling and performance "feel" which takes into account engine/clutch response, braking, weight transfer under acceleration and deceleration, and throttle response. This is a nice package.