formula one twin track world

Formula One snowmobile racing is becoming big time. More than 70 television stations showed this snowy speed sport to more than 30 million viewers in Canada and the United States last season.

Formula One is as sophisticated as major league car racing, as exciting as stadium motocross, and as action-packed as dirt track stock car racing. It draws attention.

Starting in December and finishing up the first of March, Formula One snowmobile racing is on a weekly hunt for its series champion. The middle of January, about four races into the schedule, all the top drivers head to Eagle River, Wisconsin, to take aim on the title of "world champion." One of the oldest championships on the circuit, Eagle River celebrated 25 years of crowning championships last season.

Up in Canada, the most established event is the Kawartha Cup championships at Peterborough, Ontario. This event has seen the likes of the late Gilles Villeneuve battling the major factory teams from Polaris, Arctic Cat and Ski-Doo aboard an underpowered, but superior handling Skiroule with Villeneuve's own independent front suspension system that was emulated a season later by Polaris. Before Gilles, Jim Adema fought the factories as a privateer aboard a Yamaha-powered Thunder Jet. He tended to win against the big factories, too.

Formula One and its predecessor circuits, Sno Pro and the Professional Drivers' Circuit, have been designed to be racing's showcase. With the demise of major league factory-supported racing in the late '70s and early '80s, racing circuits struggled for survival, while maintaining the top classes of equipment.

A couple of seasons ago, the top drivers, the top equipment and the best race sites were brought together in the Sno Pro Oval Race Titles series coordinated and sponsored by NGK, a manufacturer of snowmobile spark plugs, and Ski-Doo, Canada's originator and manufacturer of Ski-Doo snowmobiles. The NGK/Ski-Doo Sport series scheduled 10- events in its inaugural season, but due to a weather cancellation, actually held only nine events.

Taped half-hour broadcasts of the Eagle River championships and the Grand Prix Labatt in Valcourt, Quebec, events were made for rebroadcast and were carried on nearly 50 television outlets in North America that first season.

Last season the SPORT series was featured at 11 race sites, with six in Canada and five in the United States. Sponsorship increased when Dayco arranged the Can-Am Challenge, an international competition between the Canadian and U.S. drivers worth $10,000 in prize monies. Funds were distributed between the top five racers from each country based on season point standings.

The top driver in the Can-Am Challenge segment was overall SPORT champion and Eagle River winner, Bobby Donahue, of Wisconsin, who accumulated 157 points. High point drivers from Canada were the Vessair brothers of Honey Harbour, Ontario. Bruce finished 16 points ahead of his older brother, Gary. Jacques Villeneuve, who had won the series title in the inaugural season, finished third among Canadian drivers and sixth overall.

Formula One and the SPORT series is the showcase for snowmobile racing. Just about every driver campaigns a Ski-Doo twin-tracked racer. Developed by Ski-Doo the twin-tracker and other Formula One sleds use an engine limited to 340cc, but just about anything else goes. Almost all drivers rely on the liquid-cooled, rotary-valved Rotax racing motor which has claimed more World Championship titles than any other engine. Built in Austria by a subsidiary of Ski-Doo, the power-packed engine is the only non-Japanese engine used in today's sleds. Other engine makers include Fuji Heavy Industries, Suzuki and Yamaha, but none build a formula one engine.

For a short time, older ex-factory sleds from Scorpion and Arctic Enterprises were somewhat successful against the twin-tracker. In recent years, however, the dual tracked Bomber has set the standard in Formula One.

The low slung, twin tracked racer was first introduced to the racing world when Jacques Villeneuve raced the prototypical version in Winnipeg in the early '80s. Its performance and promise left much to be desired as engine and suspension problems arose. By 1982 the twin tracker with Villeneuve again aboard raced and won its first World's Championship at Eagle River. With the pull-out from formula racing by the other factories in the early '80s, Bombardier was left as the only supplier of formula racers. As the twin track design evolved and the older, former Arctic Cat, Scorpion and Polaris single track machines became outclassed, racers turned to the twin track and Rotax-power.

One hold-out was Minnesotan Dave Wahl, whose family had been associated with the Arctic Cat glory days and tried to hang on with a single track design of his own. In the past season even this champion single track racer/designer recognized that the only way to be truly competitive was to join the two track set. He scored 126 points in the series to be runner-up to Wisconsin's Donahue.

Another maverick in Formula One has been Jean-Guy Poulin of Connecticut. He races a twin-tracker of his own design, although it uses a lot of Ski-Doo parts. Jean-Guy occasionally appears with his "sit-in" racer at eastern events and Eagle River's world championship event. While he doesn't always make the finals, he is fun to watch because he gives his best all the time.

The SPORT championships is not unlike top auto circuits where a dominant chassis and engine combination is virtually the rule and not the exception. For example in Indy car racing there may be a single dominant chassis, such as this season with the Penske design, and a dominant engine, which until this year had been a Cosworth Ford, but which has fallen prey to the Ilmor-Chevrolet. In American stock car racing, which seems to have a number of different makes like Ford, Chevy, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Buick contesting the top circuit, you may find that the actual chassises are made by one or two top shops.

As with formula one racing cars, the nose piece of the sleek little twin track racers sits just millimeters off the track surface. Skis are narrow, truncated holders for razor-sharp carbide runners. The dual rubber tracks carry dozens of finely honed carbide-tipped studs. These traction devices play a crucial part in getting the drivers off the starting line cleanly and through the turns smoothly. Knowledge of traction is as critical as knowing how to tune the engine.

An airfoil at the front of these twin tracked racers directs airflow over the windshield, around the driver and off a broad smoothly contoured rear deck. The shape of these machines is scientific and was developed at the National Research Council wind tunnel in Ottawa.

Drivers sit on the left hand track, the inside track in oval racing. There are two 7.5 inch wide tracks, which meet the Formula One requirement for a maximum 15 inch track width. The trick is that by splitting the track in half and separating them, the sled now has a wider rear stance and four points of contact, like a car, instead of three like a tricycle.

Power is slipped to the inside track via a differential system, effectively slowing down that track while the outside track, going faster, catches up. The differential is interlaced with the steering system, similar to the concept behind twin tracked construction equipment and military tanks. The net effect is increased track control and an ability for the driver to virtually drive the twin tracker anywhere he wants through the turns - as long as he has traction, that is.

The racing twin tracker is framed with chrome molly tube steel and uses a magnesium motor mount and chaincase. Shock absorbers are nitrogen charged and have nine adjustment positions. In the most recent evolution of the twin tracker design, cooling air comes from under the machine instead of through vents in the front.

The twin tracker is a sophisticated design for sophisticated racers. The majority of the top Formula One racers have been successful in other circuits and other classes. One stepping stone to Formula One comes from the single tracked Formula Two level, which relies on 250cc engines, but teaches drivers the importance of handling and finesse. Other classes, like Formula Three and Pro Stock classes are based on stock, consumer available sleds. These sleds are heavier and sometimes have more overall brute horsepower but are not faster than Formula One equipment.

Racers like former SPORT champion Jacques Villeneuve and current title holder Bobby Donahue have been regulars on factory-backed racing teams. Villeneuve was a steady campaigner for Ski-Doo and has three world titles to his credit. Donahue, who has raced since 1974, was a team member on a Yamaha-backed Sno Pro team as well as a championship racer for the Ski-Doo factory in its Sno Pro years.

Although NGK, Ski-Doo and Dayco provide financial support of the circuit, most of the Formula One racers require outside sponsorship in addition to winners' purses. Winning can be lucrative. Last year's victory at the 25th annual Eagle River derby was worth up to $25,000 for Bobby Donahue. Usually the rewards for competing are much smaller and most drivers need the backing of smaller sponsors.

For every major sponsor like Jacques Villeneuve's Canadian Tire Moto-Master backing, you will find dozens of sponsors like Superior Auto Collision, Jet Welding, Bickford's Sport Center, Sleeves Sportsman's Bar, and Lemans Motor Sport. These smaller sponsors are giants to the racers they help.

Last season purses totaled more than $130,000 on the 11 race circuit. Still, with 10 Canadian drivers and another 25 U.S. racers competing for the money, becoming millionaires is not a likely goal of these competitors. They will not receive endorsement contracts for major beer companies, car makers, or even local pizza joints. They race for the love of competition. They try to be the best racer they can be and square off against each other in a ritual not unlike a Top Gun shoot-out among fighter pilots.

Racing is in their blood. And while they won't get rich, at least the NGK/Ski-Doo SPORT series and Dayco CanAm Challenge give them hope that they at least won't go broke.

The 1988-89 race schedule is only tentative, but you can count on these events: the well-organized effort at Plymouth, Wisconsin in early January; followed by the world championship derby at Eagle River; the Georgian Cup in Owen Sound, Ontario, in late January; and the Grand Prix of Valcourt in early February.

One of the best races on the circuit is the Valcourt event, which is held in conjunction with an international snowmobile festival and has grown steadily into one of the most prestigious events on the Formula One tour since its inception in 1983. Last season the promoters tried a "Friday Night Special" which attempted to run off competitors under the lights. Blinding snow dust caused sponsors to cancel that attempt, but the time trials under the lights went off well and drew a respectable crowd for such an event.

The Valcourt race is held in Bombardier's backyard on a Bombardier-built track is one of the best on the circuit. The parent of Ski-Doo also owns a major aircraft company and usually assigns an airport snow emergency truck and brush to the race. About three passes with the snow-clearing brush and the wide corners are swept clean ready for the next race. This race is well attended because it is well organized, giving spectators an excellent value for their bucks - U.S. or Canadian!

If you want to see the best snowmobile racing, pencil in a SPORT series event. You'll see racers with an average experience level of nearly 12 years of racing. Almost four years of that experience will have come on twin trackers. It's a competitive shoot-out that you shouldn't miss. And, if you can't make Valcourt, Eagle River, Plymouth or Antigo, tune in your local sports channel on TV. You can catch a lot of the action on the tube. But see the action in person, it's more fun!