Okay, so we couldn’t really come up with 600 facts about the new Rotax 600R E-Tec engine, which hits the snow this winter in the Summit SP.
So no 600 facts but here are six facts about the Rotax 600 R E-Tec that are worth noting.
1. Second Generation E-Tec
The Rotax series of E-Tec engines started with the 600 H.O. E-Tec in 2009. The second engine in the E-Tec series was the 850, which came several years later in 2016. Fast forward a handful of years to model year 2019 for the second generation of E-Tec engines, which fittingly returns back to the 600cc displacement size. We at SnoWest Magazine were some of the first to see the new 600R a year ago at the Rotax factory in Gunskirchen, Austria, home of BRP-owned Rotax.
Rotax is the sole supplier of all BRP powersports engines and has been since it was acquired by BRP in 1970. Rotax knows a thing or two about engines and the E-Tec powerplants are evidence of that.
2. Size Matters
It was almost out of necessity that Ski-Doo redesigned the 600 E-Tec. The previous iteration of the 600 wouldn’t fit into Ski-Doo’s new Rev Gen4 platform. It had to get skinny.
Knowing the Rev Gen4 was coming down the trail, the Rotax engineers we visited with in Gunskirchen said the 600R project has been in the works for years. “When we started on the 850, the [new] 600 was already on the table,” Christian Berger, one of the lead engineers on two-stroke E-TEC engines for Rotax, said. One of Rotax’s other lead engineers, Andreas Matheis, concurred. “The 600 project started soon after the 850; it’s been a three-year project.”
Matheis added, “It was clear that when the new platform was developed the current engines wouldn’t fit.”
The engine is narrower on the magneto side by 37mm (1.45 inches), which might not seem like much but it was enough to fit into the Rev Gen4. To get the 600R narrower on the magneto side, Rotax used a new magneto, which comes with several benefits in addition to allowing the engine to get narrower. One such benefit is cooler running, thanks to bigger fan blades to keep it cool.