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Bret Rasmussen’s Ski-Doo
Legendary hill climber, racer and backcountry specialist Bret Rasmussen shocked the snowmobile industry last summer by announcing a switch to Ski-Doo. Following a long and successful career with Arctic Cat the change to Ski-Doo caught us all by surprise. As one of the pioneers of the sidehilling and boondocking mountain-riding style Bret’s contribution to the snowmobile industry in terms of rider and machine development has been enormous. Bret’s devotion to developing mountain snowmobiles continues with Ski-Doo, and even before his new XM sled hit the snow Bret had already made a slew of mod changes.
Bret has a longstanding relationship with BoonDocker running their turbo systems on Arctic Cats for many years. He continues to use their turbos on his Ski-Doos, and the BoonDocker’s turbo kit he used has a pre-assembled turbocharger oil tank assembly mounted low in the chassis where the stock muffler used to live. The kit uses an intercooler to cool the charged air along with auxiliary injectors mounted in a tubular airbox. The injector’s off-boost fueling and turbo boost are electronically controlled by the Control Box which allows easy rider adjustments. The turbo kit makes a significant difference to the machine’s performance and works especially well in the mountains as the turbo compensates for the loss of power due to high elevation whereas a naturally aspirated machine would lose power.
Machine ergonomics has always been a big part of Bret’s program. Just about the time that everyone had installed tall risers and seats, Bret and a few other riders came along and showed everyone that lowering handlebars and seats was better for their riding style. On the Ski-Doo Bret has moved the steering post forward with a Skinz accessory for a more vertical steering position. The handlebars have also been lowered considerably with an RSI fixed height riser block. A lower Rasmussen Edition WRP seat was installed. The lower seat makes it easier for the rider to step over the seat when transitioning between left and right wrong foot forward riding positions. The final touch on Bret’s Ski-Doo was his custom ArcticFX vinyl wrap with all his sponsor logos.