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Pat Hauck of Hauck Powersports first impressed the crowd at our Super Sled Shoot-Out in 2005 with his Limited Edition Yamaha Apex. The fans couldn't get enough of this special yellow machine and neither could I, so I headed up to his place in Rice Lake in the middle of winter to do some real world testing against our stock Apex.
It was time to test this mean machine, one of only five built, where it really mattered, in the snow.
The must-have trail sledWe told you what this rocket received in accessories when it debuted back in our last Super Sled issue (Feb. '06) and if you're lucky, you may see it out on the trail in northern Wisconsin. But Hauck added even more goodies for his ultimate personal trail sled.
In the front, Hauck's Apex got GYT clickers to replace the stock FOX shocks, and the stance was widened 2 inches. Then he replaced the stock front-end pieces from the A-arms to the spindles with dazzling billeted aluminum chrome. C&A Pro skis with 6-inch carbides replaced the stock skis.
Under the hood Hauck added a fuel accelerator to the Yamaha Genesis 150 engine. In addition, a Hauck No. 5 clutch kit with overdrive sheave geared down, K&N filters and remote-start option were installed. The exhaust flows out the back via Hauck's custom 4-2-1-2 GHT-R-DUN exhaust kit.
The rear suspension is the stock Yamaha Monoshock R/A but the track has been changed to a 1-inch lugged Camoplast model with 144 1.175-inch Woody's Golddigger studs lining it all the way to the edges. Hauck didn't stud the middle of the track as aggressively as normal in order to guard against the improbable situation that his stud protectors weren't 100% effective. This way he wouldn't run studs up into his custom exhaust. Anti-slip drivers were also fitted.
As far as custom painted and other pieces, there are too many to mention. Suffice it to say there is a taller, blacked out trail windshield, custom hood, side panels, vents, fuel tank, seat, rear exhaust ports, handlebars and more.
The testWe ran our stock Apex side-by-side with Hauck's numerous times on Hauck's personal ice track as well as in the loose snow and it was no comparison. Even with our more aggressive studding package of 192 Woody's picks, 10-inch carbides and 1.25-inch RipSaw track, Hauck's Limited Edition left me eating snow dust every time.
Acceleration and traction were near perfect and we couldn't have picked a better day for testing. Cornering on the Limited was also flatter due to the wider front end and the turning radius was much smaller.
Hauck's machine easily clicked off 100 mph in 7.67 seconds. In the ¼-mile our radar gun picked up Hauck at 118 mph, his handheld GPS unit showed us 117 mph. To compare, our stock Apex ran 104.7 mph for a top speed on the lake that day, but it took more than a ¼-mile.
Now those are some real world numbers!
Hauck Powersports 2006 Limited Edition Apex RTXHP: 162
Exhaust: GHT-R-DUN kit
Clutching: Hauck No. 5 kit
Track: 121x15x1.0 in.
Studding/carbides: 144 Woody's Goldiggers/6-inch car bides
Front Shocks: GYT clickers
Rear Susp.: Stock Yamaha Monoshock R/A
Final Sled Cost: $12,000 US
Personalized with widened and chrome billeted front end: $14,000 US
Hauck Limited Apex ¼-mile: 11.8 seconds, 118 mph (also top speed)
AmSnow Stock Apex ¼-mile: 13.06 seconds, 98.83 mph (104.7 mph top speed)