When first introduced to the idea of a 1” track on a 200 horsepower snowmobile, I understood the reasoning, which was to decrease rotating mass to promote lake racer speeds. And this change was a decreased rear grip. With one change in particular, these sleds have become two of the best balanced 4-stroke sleds ever produced by these manufacturers.
I don’t know too many people who travel with different tracks for tuning purposes!Įnter the 2019 SRX and Thundercat. But at times, I find I’m somewhat limited as to what I can do, especially with the track and skis, which as a rider, you are pretty much stuck with. I often find myself trying to analyze what the snowmobile suspension is doing down there, and then make changes to tune my ride experience. Living in this asphalt world during the summer months has changed my outlook on wintertime snowmobiling. To do this, there’s a good number of solutions, like stiffening up the rear sway bar, upping rear spring rates, changing tire sizes, or adjusting angles of suspension components. For instance, if a car has a problem with grip on the front tires, such as understeer (or push) the solution may be found in the rear suspension by taking away rear grip, effectively rebalancing the grip between the front and rear of the car. I don’t profess to be a guru in this department, but I do know a thing or two. Achieving this balance is as much science as it is experience, and knowing what to do to correct an imbalance is perhaps the most important trait in a chassis tuner. This has lead to a rudimentary understanding of car setups and tuning to achieve the maximum grip from the front and rear suspensions. Working with some real pros over the years, one thing that I’ve learned is that a predictable, balanced car is a fast car. I also like to fabricate and wrench on the cars myself. Over the last decade I’ve had the privilege to crew and drive some spectacular cars everything from Porsche GT3 Cup cars, to Trans Am TA2, to Chump Cars. A passion of mine, perhaps even more so then snowmobiling, is road racing. Balanced also comes to mind when attempting to describe the handling of the Yamaha SRX, and by extension, the Arctic Cat Thundercat. It’s a term often used in auto racing to describe the handling characteristics of road race cars, when teams are trying to achieve the perfect setup.
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