AmSnow.com is now SnoWest.com
This was not a professional race track, and that’s on purpose. We want a "Real World" scenario. So, with some assistance from the town of Munising, Mich., we commandeered a private test area and made our own track of more than a mile, giving us ample time to find top speed and a safe shutdown area. We spent two days packing down the track, giving it time to set up, and grooming it down again. And best of all, the weather blessed us with bright sunny skies for our test days and cool temps at night over our purpose-made test strip.
With everything in place, it was up to
AmSnow test rider and snowmobile drag racer Butch Veltum to keep our test fleet on the straight and narrow. It was time for the sleds to perform and let the chips fall where they may.
But acceleration testing is only one aspect of the Real World Shootout. We are also wet weighing the sleds, spending time taking numerous fuel efficiency readings, trail riding and “seat of the pants” testing, as well as testing new accessories, products, and even new software and performance tracking equipment. It’s all done over the course of five days with the same group of riders each year. The idea is to be able to continually build a base of information that consumers can then look through, dissect and draw comparisons.
Before even starting to compare and test these sleds, we put well over 500 “break-in” miles on each of them. The 4-strokes all had their first oil changes and service done on them, and the 2-strokes had all eclipsed the specific manufacturer break-in times and count-down timers, done to respective OEM guidelines.
On the gun
The data doesn’t lie. On an acceleration track that resembled a worn-in trail through a grass field, we saw times and speeds slightly slower than what one might find on the straightest, low-snow groomed trail, or on a lake with little snow to drag on the sled. Even with the slightly slower speeds due to more loose snow, we can still gather a lot from the numbers in our acceleration chart. Plus, this is how MOST riding conditions end up when there is decent snow. It was perfect!
The overarching theme of snowmobile performance from each OEM is evident in this set of data. Most everyone views holeshot acceleration as a top priority when developing snowmobile performance. Every single sled, regardless of track length, went from 0 to 60 mph in less than 5 seconds. So don’t worry, all the sleds are plenty fast out there. Plus, these are trail sleds, not racers, and we are not promoting racing on the trails by any means (only comparing as an independent third party for the consumer).