skidoo take it off

AmSnow.com is now SnoWest.com

Granby, Colo. - After an hour of staring at a half dozen machines draped in black sheets at the 2008 Ski-Doo sneak peek, I wanted to start a group chant, something to the effect of, "show us your sleds, show us your sleds!"

What I saw next astounded and amazed me. After my initial thoughts of "Holy ----! That's incredible!" subsided, and I'd had a chance to digest what I'd seen, I walked away with two words on my lips - weight and value.

REV XP - Lighter, faster, stronger
Ski-Doo's new smokin' hot REV XP lineup was worth the wait. You can plunk down cash at your dealer and get the new chassis in the MXZ, Renegade, Summit or GSX models for 2008.

The fan-cooled models across Ski-Doo's lineup stay in the top-selling REV chassis and the Mach Z stays in the RT, while the RF chassis houses Freestyle, Legend, Expedition and Skandic. But there's no doubt, the "high-profile" sleds are all in the XP.

After 5 years in the REV chassis, Ski-Doo engineers simply have raised the bar for the sled industry almost as drastically as they did when launching the rider-forward REV.

How did Doo do it? By dropping pounds.

How much did they drop?

Well, comparing last year's MXZ Blizzard 600 H.O. SDI with this year's MXZ Adrenaline 600 H.O. SDI, the difference is a staggering 51 lbs.! You read correctly, the sled's dry weight decreased from 479 to 428 lbs.

Want more impressive news? The MXZx 800 dropped 54 lbs. from last year's model and now comes standard with the incredibly smooth 800R engine that was only available in Summit last season. AmSnow's dyno testers at Dynoport reported 155.7 hp from this engine last year. Now you can get the 800R in MXZ, Renegade, GSX and Summit sleds.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the math; we are talking a decrease of 11% or more in dry weight on the MXZs, and in the case of the 800, a gain of 15 hp on top of the weight loss.

What's it all mean? There isn't another sled brand on the snow that will even come close to touching the stock power-to-weight ratio of the new 2008 MXZ 800R!

The weight story doesn't stop there though; another new sled from Ski-Doo is taking claim as the lightest weight full-sized liquid-cooled machine on the snow. The new MXZ TNT tips the scales at a feathery 399 lbs.! TNT gets the 594cc liquid 500SS engine that has been sneaking up on unsuspecting 600 and 800 owners for years.

Once we slipped our eyes back in our heads, we asked BRP's engineers, "It's light, but is it still strong?"

REV XP's chassis alone is 17% lighter than last year's REV, and amazingly, the engineers managed to produce a new chassis that's also 21% more rigid in torsion and 37% more rigid in flexion.

Made with a low-pressure permanent mold process, many of the cast aluminum parts on the new REV XP were engineered to be the lightest diameter/thickness possible and still meet strength goals. Different alloys also were used, and experiments with different tubing were constantly worked with to bring a sled to market that's Snocross strong. Ski-Doo employed several of its professional Snocrossers to test the chassis' strength throughout development by intentionally trying to break the sled with hard landings and by pushing the sled past limits that the REV could not always handle.

Getting comfortable
You may have thought that Ski-Doo was comfortable atop the industry, but it has decided to try and grab all the market share it can by delivering a new platform that is ridiculously powerful AND more comfortable than the REV.

The new seating position on the REV XP opens the angle of your knees from 80 degrees on the old REV to 105 degrees on XP. Your feet are moved 8-inches farther forward and you sit higher as well, so longer legged riders feel more at ease.

Ski-Doo engineers were able to move the secondary clutch above the tunnel to create the extra foot room. The Over Tunnel Drive (OTD) also works in conjunction with rider position and engine placement to give XP a center of gravity that is still relatively far forward. The engine is also mounted vertically in the XP chassis and actually suspended 1.14 inches lower in the belly. Instead of sitting on engine mounts, the engine hangs on cast aluminum mounts. This makes the powerplant more a part of the chassis and thereby more stable, reducing belt flex.

Under the hood, a more efficient, lighter roller secondary clutch sits above the TRA VII primary, and the secondary is permanently fixed on the jackshaft. You can still remove the secondary with a few quick actions, and cams can still easily be changed.

Possibly the XP's biggest hit ergonomically is the new fuel tank area. Aggressive riders can easily "get up on the tank" and slide across the machine, keeping the sled flat and beneath you in corners at speed. Tool adjustable riser blocks also will be available so you can set it up for your riding style.

Above and forward of the blocks you will also get a brand new gauge pod with more gadgets than you could find in a James Bond flick. On top of the usual (speedo, tach, odometer), you can get an altimeter, top speed/rpm/avg. speed read-back, air temperature, compass, actual and avg. fuel consumption, dual trip meter, hour total and trip meter, clock and record/playback mode with up to 10 minutes to time laps or speed runs.

SC-5 comes alive
BRP engineers must have been clocking plenty of overtime when they built the REV XP because both the front and rear suspensions are totally new too! The new front suspension dual A-arm design is lighter and made with forged, not extruded, aluminum. The new steering is a triangular pitman arm design, like you see on many light trucks, and it replaces the rack and pinion design. A variable caster sits up front and the turning radius on the prototypes is extremely tight.

In the rear is the new SC-5 skid. Improved bump absorption and weight transfer were the goals here and you can really feel it when you crack the throttle on the new MXZ 800R. You can pop the skis up like the front of a dirt bike!

The rising rate of the center shock is less pronounced on the SC-5 and more of the stroke is used. Contributing to this is a new shock link and lower mounted front torque arm to help keep the sled down during hard acceleration. Rear travel also increased with a new rear arm and spring location. What's best about this suspension is that it loses 8 lbs. over last year's SC-4!

The mountain set also gets a new SC-5M rear suspension that cuts weight transfer with a falling rate center shock and slowly rising rate rear shock. The new SC-5M cuts 9 lbs. off last year's SC mountain skid and will have a tipped up rear rail system. Consumers will get a Ripsaw track on trail sleds and a Challenger Lite track for the mountains.

Best value
With arguably the best 2-stroke engines in the market, reliable 4-stroke technology in the 4-TEC V-800 engines in the Legend and Skandic sleds, less weight than any competitor in the performance category and a whole new chassis to boot, it is difficult to find a reason why Ski-Doo shouldn't hold onto its No. 1 ranking in snowmobile sales again in 2008. The real kicker is that a huge price increase is not anticipated by BRP for this year!

Weight Comparo
140+ hp
'08 MXZx 800R, Weight= 425 lbs.
'07 MXZx 800 HO, Weight= 479 lbs.
Difference= +54
Difference %= +11%

120+ hp
'08 MXZx Adrenaline 600 HO SDI, Weight= 428 lbs.
'07 MXZx 600 HO SDI, Weight= 479 lbs.
Difference= +51
Difference %= +11%

Mountain 140+ hp
'08 Summit Everest 800R 154-inch, Weight= 439 lbs.
'07 Summit Adrenaline 800 R, Weight= 483 lbs.
Difference= +44
Difference %= +10%