For almost three decades, we have partnered up with Dynotech Research to bring you the New York Shootout. This independent event is the consumer's first chance to find out if the performance numbers from the factory match what the sleds actually put out. The location has been at one of the best private testing tracks in the East (Chip and Cindy Saur’s track behind the Ole Barn in the little town of Inlet, NY). For those who might not know, the Shootout is always the same weekend as the Snodeo event right down the road in Old Forge, NY where consumers come from all over the Northeast to this sleepy area in the Adirondacks for this weekend. It is often the first ride of the year on the trails and it has become a ritual for thousands of sledheads in this neck of the snowbelt.
The conditions were almost perfect this year thanks to a three to five-inch dusting of snow, 25 degree temperature and no real wind. This kept things enjoyable for drivers, their pit crews and the nearly 2,000 people who attended the event.
AmSnow and DynoTech Research took eight totally stock production sleds straight out of the box for the Shootout this year. We divvied the sleds into four different classes. Those classes included the 120+hp class, the 150+hp class, the 160+hp class, and the Turbo class. This was done so that the most alike sleds could be compared to each other.
120+hp Production Stock Sled Tests
Due to the ever-tightening of production build numbers by the manufacturers and availability of units it has become tougher and tougher to procure the most perfect comparison sleds. An example can be seen in the 600 class as we had a Polaris Assault 600, a 144-inch machine, an Arctic Cat ZR 6000 El Tigre which was a 129-inch skid, and a Ski-Doo Renegade Adrenaline which is 137-inches long.
150 and 160 HP classes
The stock sleds were also limited in these categories. The Polaris Assault 800 and the Arctic Cat ZR 8000 Sno Pro represented the 150 group and the 160 group was solely represented by the Ski-Doo MXZx 850 E-TEC. Impressive results and improvements over last year's models were noted all around. The brand new CTEC2 motor from Arctic Cat was definitely more snappy and responsive, but didn't put out the boost in HP that we were expecting.
Turbo Stock Sleds
Maybe it’s the fact that at 203.8hp, this Yamaha-built snowmobile motor is stronger than most cars and trucks on the road, but these sleds STILL surprise us every year. The Yamaha Sidewinder and Cat 9000 are built for speed and rival any mod sleds from only a short time ago. Due to some logistical issues, we were unable to get the Cat 9000 on the dyno in time, but theoretically this is the same motor and last year our dyno test showed only a .10 difference between these two.
More to Come from February's Issue!
I know this is just a short teaser for what went on last weekend, but keep your eyes peeled for the in-depth story, stats and sponsor information from the full article in our February issue.
Stay tuned and think snow!