A couple of weeks ago I got a call from an old acquaintance.
“I’m going to take a shot at the Guinness world record for the most miles in 24 hours on a snowmobile. Just wanted to let you know I’ll be riding a Yamaha Nytro“
That’s where it started. Matthew Weidinger is a friend of a friend who I had met a couple times in the past and had picked up a good vibe from him. After a couple more phone calls, and a chat with Peter (my boss) about what I was potentially getting myself into, I made the decision to offer Matt the ‘TY mystery sled’ to ride. Yep, the same 2011 red Apex EPS which was broken in by Supertrax and ridden by the first group of Sled Talkers back in early January.
Bracebridge Yamaha volunteered to prep the sled with some fresh carbides, studs and a set of low snow wheels. Dan at BBY also freshened up the chain-case oil, checked out all the fasteners and fluids then installed a pair of TRIC scratchers that we are currently testing for durability. The only mod was the addition of a second throttle lever for his left hand in case of cramping.
I loaded up my sled Wednesday morning and headed up to Big Win Island on Lake of Bays where I was met by Matt and his support crew. A local survey company had laid out an exacting 10.3 km oval course around the island. It was well staked with lots of reflectors. A start finish banner was erected in the middle of the front straight with a heated timing booth, generator and large construction light off to the side. The 2011 Apex was there, adorned with graphics depicting the different sponsors and Matthew in his new Klim suit (thanks Sue!) was calmly preparing for the longest ride of his life.
At precisely 3:00PM on Wednesday Matt fired up his sled and off he went. I hung out with the guys as he continued to lap in just under 5:00 minutes, until the fuel light came on. He slid to a stop and Stephen dumped in about 28 liters of gas and he was gone. I jumped on my Apex and started following him around lap 15, to discover he was really flying. I was pinning my Yamacharged sled and was not gaining on him. I was hitting over 160 down the snow drifted straights and cornering no lower than 140. The track was snowy enough not to afford consistent traction and it required a lot of attention. Scary pace… Matt was truly in for a grueling ride.
Fast forward about six hours, it’s dark, it’s cold and starting to snow Matt is still cranking sub 5 minute laps and taking on fuel every 13-14 rounds, the sled is running great. Johnny is serving us warm, oozing pitas on the ice, while the boys continue to log and video the run for the Guinness adjudicators. After another couple of hours I eyeballed the sled (again) during a pit stop, everything looks good, I decide to leave the team and go get some zzz’s. Fast forward another seven hours, daybreak, my cell phone didn’t ring last night, jump in the truck, fingers crossed. I arrive at the lake just as Matt is taking his first break, some dry fish, ibuprofen and energy drink. He has been running strong all night and his lap times are coming steadily down. He’s running under 4 minutes 30 seconds now. He’s a machine!
I visually checked the sled again, this time there’s a problem. The outside ski has only one stud left on the carbide and the inside isn’t much better with only two of the four studs left. The next pit stop we changed the carbides in record time, track was a bit loose but the studs weren’t contacting anything and the new Apex has extroverts… away he went, and cranked his fasted lap yet @ 17 hours into the ride. Fast forward to 10:35, the current world record of 2372km set by Dustin Shoemaker of Illinois on an Attak was about to fall, Matt slid under the banner with four and a half hours left to widen the gap. Apparently, Shoemaker was spent/exhausted after his run and could barely lift his arms. Matt got off and looked fresh as a daisy. He took a short break and I pulled the body panels for the first time, adjusted the chain case, checked the oil and coolant and threw on a fresh belt, just because… off he went and cranked a 4:15, he was still going faster! Jump forward to 3:00PM.
Amidst family friends and local media, Matt’s solitary challenge came to an end. He not only broke the world record he annihilated it. He finished up approaching 3000km 24 hours. -Think about that for a moment.- He was averaging around 80+mph the whole time. The 2011 Apex required no maintenance or repairs outside of what I have mentioned. Matt gave kudos to the power steering, engine durability and suspension. Hugs, handshakes and a couple of tears. I am sincerely honored to have been a part of this.
What a great accomplishment for Matt and testimony to the QDR of our newest snowmobile. 23 hours wide open and not a single issue to be addressed aside from ripping the carbides off in the corners. Congratulations Matthew and congrats to our engineers, Nakano-san you built us one heck of a sled!
cheers cr
Have you filled out my survey yet?? If not would really appreciate your feed back, takes 2 minutes just click here
I just returned to Toronto from Quebec City where I was holed up in a hotel with our regional reps for three days of ‘spit-balling’ about snowmobiles. We had a chance to get out on the trails with the new sled(z) but unfortunately a freak rain storm dampened the fun. There was one section of trail that got completely wiped out by a flash flood which left huge chunks of ice strewn about the forest. I didn’t get a chance to see it but Jon did and had an image on his i-phone that made me cringe.
Got word today that an old friend Max Aoshima has chosen to retire. What is notable about Max’s announcement, he is, to the best of my knowledge the only engineer left who started working with snowmobile in the 60′s development period which resulted in the SL350 and he has been with snowmobile ever since. His knowledge and sled history is brilliant! Max-san please enjoy your retirement and if you make it to Canada we must go for another ride
Well we’ll hoist the blue dress high soon enough but if you’d like a little peek at what’s under the hood, here’s a little Sled Talk bonus. I am heading out on the road to meet and ride with our Ontario dealers Monday but will post again around this time next week. I have really enjoyed all the comments that have come in on Sled Talk and TY and it will be interesting to see what happens next week. I was asked to do a little video blog on the new sled which will no doubt be popping up pretty soon, sure to get me in some more trouble
I need to ask a small favor. It’s report card time for Sled Talk and I have made a brief survey that I am asking everyone who reads Sled Talk to take the three minutes required to complete. All you need to do is click on this Sled Talk Survey link.
The email response I got back from my inquiry was a surprise. ‘Wouldn’t recommend you to ride on the rail trail, it’s closed. Too much snow, everyone is stuck up here. Plans are to head out tomorrow with some mountain sleds to try and break it out…’
What!!! too much snow? And so I loaded up the Apex and set out earlier this week in disbelief. Traveling north from the office, there wasn’t a lot of snow on the ground and I blew past a couple of areas which I had considered might meet my needs to shake out the new Yamcharged Apex and validate version 2 of our new Tric Ice Scratchers. Strangely enough, about an hour into the drive the landscape appeared to be masked off and air-brushed as I drove into a winter wonderland.
After a brief but frustrating search for an appropriate fuel station, I dropped the sled and pulled on my lid, relishing the first-ride-of-the-season brain clutter and excitement. The rail trail exited town along the shores of a lake, as I was pulling away from the truck, two Yamaha’s went by heading in the same direction. They certainly weren’t in a big hurry but it was nice to have some company as I listened for any signs of discontent from the motor, watching the idiot lights while sniffing for anything that might indicate a problem.
Several clicks in we hit an intersection and the guys let me pass. I’m a big believer in lots of varied RPM during break-in, no cruising along at steady speeds or long intervals of high revs. The boosted engine was running great. The trail was well packed, only lightly chopped and if I didn’t know better I would have said it was in typical mid-season condition. I did however encounter a couple of trees down across the trail, seemingly there to remind me to take it easy.
The scratchers were giving the odd tap to the pan to let me know they were still there and the engine response was excellent. G-Force included a set of their own primary weights to match the boosted horsepower and the whole package made for crisp instant response at all rpm’s. When I pulled up back at the truck, I had turned the first hun on the odo with everything working perfectly. I did discover some issues with the prototype scratchers which will be fairly simple to address but the Yamacharger so far gets two thumbs up.
I reckon back to the front mount turbo I had on the Warrior and the first ride when I experienced both an oil leak and exhaust leak right out of the hole. I struggled for a month to get the bugs out of that sled and swore I would never build another mod project for my daily ride again. Needless to say I was relieved when the Yamcharger got me home without a hiccup. I know its only a hundred km but normally if something is really wrong it will show up in the first go round. Now I know what you’re thinking: how was the boosted performance? and I can’t say just yet.
The engine is- seat of the pants- stronger than stock, most noticeable in it’s response. It just feels like it wants to go. There is no excess vibration, there were no weird sounds, there was nothing in the drive sensation to indicate the modification. This thing is the perfect example of a sleeper sled… more to follow.
I don’t know too many people who ride that haven’t heard of Kenny Roberts unless of course you’re still a kid and your dad had no appreciation of premium fuel and bean oil. In the 70′s King Kenny was the reining monarch of road and dirt track. Mr Starr was kind enough to share the following trailer with us this morning and I thought I would pass it along. I know this is Sled Talk but our performance roots are found right here. All hail the king!
Starting to get some reports of snowfall around the country, Ace-san sent me a picture taken from our testing center in northern Japan… check this out.
My sled is still over at G-Force, they have installed the Yamcharger and are expecting the new fly-weights in any time now. I’m not in a big hurry to put on the Snowtrackers as I inevitably incur quite a few rocks around here in the early season. I am also curious to try a set of the new MT9 skis which are on track for December production provided they meet all the final testing parameters. Our vendors are also busy coming up with a couple of carbide selections.
This ski was originally intended as a lightweight mountain option for the Nytro MTX but it was discovered that they worked pretty good on the trail and consequently it was decided to modify the tooling so they would fit onto our other key models hence a bit of a delay. I can’t elaborate on the performance as I have not had an opportunity to try them but I’m told they handle really good and will be somewhere around a couple pounds lighter per… time will tell.
On another note, I purchased a really cool device last week that allows you to easily scan to .jpg files, all the old print negatives and color slides that have been collecting dust in the basement. I have only just started using the Wolverine but its really easy and is conjuring up a lot of ghosts. Here is a couple of pics of one of the weirdest snowmobile adventures I ever had. It was spring of 1975. I was working on a survey crew in the high Arctic, I remember going into camp right after Christmas, 24 hour darkness and temps never above minus 40F. I spent all my days bouncing around in a little Bombi tracked vehicle and nights, locked down in a small trailer with three other guys, meals were all ‘boil-a-bag’, no running water (showers etc…) no time out. Our machines were left to idle all night while we rested and our camp followed us along, dragged by a D4 Cat while we mapped the ocean bottom during the day. It was May when our equipment really began to fall apart (mostly we used Bombardier products ) and the party chief requistioned my Bombi for the drill crew. I was asked if I would be willing to use a snowmobile instead as they could get one out of Resolute… ‘well alrighty then.’
I spec’d a couple of units which I thought would work well (Yammi GP338 or MotoSki Nuvik / Skidoo Olympic), but mostly I wanted something reliable as we were working in Polar bear country. Well you can imagine my shock when they took away my Bombi (pump shotgun and SSG’s included) replacing it with this little gem.
Turns out a nurse had been running around Resolute on it for half a dozen seasons and my boss got a good deal on it (the SOB)… I quickly learned my way around the OMC 2-stroke boxxer, but outrun a Polar bear with it?? No way, this baby was my ticket home. After struggling to keep it running for two weeks, I pulled the pin and left it to seek a watery grave come break-up. Don’t know many guys who have snowmobiled north of the magnetic north pole (especially on an Evinrude Snow Crusher) I just had to share! Occurs to me there is something in my Karma linked to BRP in some twisted way and destined to torment me forever cr
Every year around this time I get this feeling. It happened this morning. I rolled out of bed, slowly as usual, sensing my aging lower back, knees and ankles as muscles and joints remind me of last evenings mountain bike race. The house was unusually cool, fresh breeze wafting through the open windows, no humidity… summer is over before it even began.
I had noticed some color change in the trees up north last weekend but hey it was still a muggy 28, hot August weekend. Nope it happened this morning. Fall fever. It is officially the snowmobile pre-season according to me, which means the same for Yamaha Canada.
I just checked the Sledtalk blog stats and traffic is up 60% over the past two weeks. That tells me something. In fact I figure because you are reading this now, you also have the gut desire to pull the sled out of storage or at least consider what the options are for new gear, upgrades and what, if any, sled shows are happening in the hood. And just as importantly, wondering what winter will have in store based on the weather trends thus far this year.
It’s no secret that the motorsports industry has been in the dumper this summer. A very general snapshot sees the marine, ATV and motorcycle business down in Canada around 25%. Some product groups more, some less. Interestingly enough, the used market appears to be up and the parts and service business has been practically recession proof.
I have another gut feeling and it is directly connected to the change of seasons and the affect upon me the snowmobiler (not me the Yamaha employee). The snowmobile world has its own form of Kryptonite, fending off the doom and gloom of global economic strife. We have more passion, more desire and more attraction to our winter wanderlust than any of our other wheeled or propped pastimes.
I predict sled sales will not reflect the the 25 point downturn of the other product lines and I highly doubt that any significant number of riders will hang up their helmets this year because of the economy. So be patient, if it hasn’t hit you already it most surely well over the next few weeks. It’s time to start thinking snow. cheers cr
Yesterday, July 1 ‘Canada Day’, was a good one. It felt to me that Canada as a whole, is showing more pride and patriotism than years past. Perhaps this is somehow related to our resilience to the current global economic downturn, or perhaps a result of some collective realization that we do live in a great, independent country and should be damn proud of it.
Based on this muse, I thought it would be appropriate to remember an old friend in this post. Steve Brand has been involved in motor sports as long as I can remember. He is an avid snowmobiler, dirt bike enthusiast and more recently a ‘wheel chair’ (ATV) pilot spearheading the annual invitational Brando rides held in Haliburton county.
You might not know who Steve is but I bet you are familiar with his acclaimed body amour, Tek Vest . He designed this exclusive product and established his company Tekrider shortly after retiring from a long stint with BRP Skidoo. I first heard of Steve when he was involved with the Canadian ISDT teams back when CanAm was a competitive dirt bike and ATV’s had only three wheels. He went on to resurrect the Skidoo snowcross effort in the early nineties as their factory race team manager before banging heads with someone who was too dull to realize a good thing when he had him…
What many don’t know about Steve– he is also a lieutenant colonel in the Canadian military reserves and currently deployed in Afghanistan. I received this Word Document, update from Steve [ Brand Afgn ] with a few photos included which I thought I would post for download as a tribute and salute of support from the home team, smack dab between Canada Day and Independence Day in the States.
A couple of background notes, Steve is known as V-man these days for his affection towards Yamaha touring sleds which he rides the wheels off, surprising many of his ‘X-man’ pals. He still competes gregariously through his sons Jeff and Kevin who race yellow sleds for Northland Rec on the CSRA circuit. The photo with Steve standing beside the pasty civilian is our Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper (closest thing we have to Obama). Happy July 4th to my American friends and thanks to Steve and all our troops!
Lots of stuff going on around here but precious little I can talk about (at this point in time). I am already getting excited about next season and my new sled. I was totally ready to ride the new Vector next year but something has come up that really got my attention and I have decided I will once again be on board an Apex. But this one will be special with the addition of a couple of new, soon to be released accessories… (fingers crossed).
John and I had the pleasure of doing some ATV’ing the other day with a couple of Grizzlies outfitted with track kits. It truly is amazing what these things are capable of doing given the additional traction and stability provided by the big foot print. They will not replace a snowmobile but I can sure see why many guys are converting their bikes in the winter. Quite a giggle.
On the subject of tracks, I tried my skills on another interesting toy last weekend. A good friend hooked me up with his mini-excavator to dig a new foundation for my cottage. All motor heads should have a chance to operate one of these things some day. Double joy sticks, thumb buttons and foot pedals controlling multiple functions simultaneously is enough to challenge anyones mechanical motor skills. End of the day I didn’t wreck anything (too badly) and the dirt all ended up back in the hole. It was a humbling experience to witness Anthony, a truly skilled operator, take the controls, throttle it up and demonstrate how it should be run. Kind of like me putting in a hot lap on a snow cross course feeling all good about myself and then watching Steve Taylor take on the same lines…. serious shrinkage!
I had the pleasure to meet a fellow out in Revelstoke through his participation here on Sled Talk. Steve Burdick and his dad have a large collection of old sleds assembeled under the banner of the New Hampshire Snowmobile Museum. Well Steve and his wife just brought a new Yamaha pilot into the world… congratulations Steve, looks like Jayden is just abouth the right size for that Nytro!
Well it’s just about time for me to head back up to the cottage to feed the black flies. Good thing I ride only Yamaha’s as it would really suck to break down on the trail this weekend… one more advantage to winter. Black flies and snowflakes hmmm kinda sums up my life these days
Last week was one of those ‘pinch me I must be dreaming’ periods where I am reminded how cool it is to be working for Yamaha. I found myself at our testing facility in Wisconsin along with several guys from Yamaha USA, Victor from Russia and a few engineers from YMC. The agenda entailed some very focussed meetings and an opportunity to test ride some new project prototypes. Snow conditions were not that great around Minocqua so we travelled up to Hurley Wisconsin where the trails were in surprisingly good shape. We had some awesome riding conditions under sunny skies at 12F and even manged to run into some fresh grooming.You can see by the smiling faces on this rag-tag bunch of outlaws, at times life in the ‘office’ is pretty good!
Jeff Ryan an old pal of mine from BC, sent me the following story and I found the concept quite amazing. It’s about one of the best kept competition secrets in snowmobiling, the Alcan 200. Imagine if you will, taking a wide sweeping section of highway close to a hundred miles long, hitting it with a giant Zamboni, and running an out and back, no holds barred ice / road race rally for snowmobiles. Welcome to the Alcan.
Here’s what Jeff had to say:
"The race happens in a place that most people have never heard of, smack-dab in the middle of no where. The track is a twisty highway covered in a thick layer of ice, 86 miles one way with 2 fuel stop's, racer's leave 2 abreast and 15 second's apart. After the racer's arrive at the end of the first leg the ambulance and sweep truck's clear the track and then they race back to the start. There is some more info on the Alcan 200 website. This year was the 40th aniversary of the event.
In 2008, the Alcan 200 was won by an SRX700 Big Bore with an average speed of 117 mph. The all-time record average speed is held by the same machine at120.08 mph. To my knowledge this is the only snowmobile road race in North America. There is typically about 40 entries in this race of which only half will make it to the finish. The race is held in the Alaskan Panhandle and BC running into the Yukon and took place on Jan 17-18. This years winning rider is Travis Adam's from Whitehorse, Travis was the last Canadian to win the overall in 98, he has had 3 first place finishes in different classes since first running the Alcan.
Yamaha has long dominated this event, the average speed record is 121mph and is held by a mod SRX, (these thing's are legendary for their aerodynamic's and engine reliability.) The second fastest average speed came from a near stock SRX600, remember the 2 fuel stop's each way, these sled's are moving FAAAST... Most rider's dont need the fuel but they MUST stop, remove the cap and put the jerry can spout in the gas tank This year #2 and #3 were the Hill brother's from Alaska on a pair of RX1 turbo's.
Travis ran a 2008 Apex RTX, extensively modified specifically for this one single race. It is not a trail sled for the rest of the season and will sit til next January. The build is based on a McXpress 270hp turbo kit, due to lack of soft snow for lube and cooling a Nytro rad is installed on the back and a rail spray lube system is added. It's geared as high as possible and the sled will exceed 160mph on GPS, tracks will not last long at this speed so a little control is required. Travis held the machine at just under 140mph to minimize a possible disasterous track explosion. Travis told me that he has seen a pile of track debris on the hi-way and the trackless sled 1.5 miles up the road, no brakes and just idler's on glare ice makes for a long, scary glide
Travis had his sight's on not only the overall win but also the average speed record but unfortunately the second half of the race went through bad weather and 'white-out' condition's. Travis still took the overall but was unable to get the new average speed record, his average was 113mph. Get this, Travis started in 11th-- so on the 6th row--that's 90 second's back of row 1 and he was 1 minute ahead at the half way point (86 miles). Last year Travis lost when he ran out of fuel almost within sight of the finish line, he was leading by a long shot.Travis is funny, I dont know if you can say this but pre race jitter's get to him big-time, he get's diarea and vomiting prior to to any race he enter's... the whole family is involved in racing, have been for a long time. Interesting folks as they aren't in it for the glory, it's simply what they love to do.
Unfortunately there was a tragic death in this years race, a Yamaha loyal rider, running in the vintage class on board an SRV540 Jeff Peede, saddly, did not make it through to the end."
So there you have it... 120 mph AVERAGE over 200 miles, good thing there are no Caribou in the north! Congratulations Travis and Yukon Yamaha, job well done!! and a special thanks to Jeff for sending in the details.
It has been an interesting week. I drove out to Drummondville Quebec, home of the Soucy Group to meet with their engineers on a couple of projects we are working on. You may not have heard of this company but I guarantee you have experienced one or more of their products at one time or another. They are a major supplier within our industry, building parts for BRP, Polaris and Arctic Cat. The Soucy story is really quite interesting.
The founder, Gilles Soucy an avid snowmobiler, had the vision to purchase much of the tooling and parts for all the old sleds back in the late seventies as most of the original parent companies abandoned the snowmobile business. He started a distribution network for these parts (persoanlly delivering them out of an old school bus) which were still in demand and soon after, entered the manufacturing business to replenish and supplement his new business. His wholesale company, ‘Kimpex’ grew quite large and was later sold-off by Gilles as he shifted his focus to the design and manufacture of OE spec parts.
His venture readily expanded with the award of many OE contracts starting with Skidoo and branching out from there. These days the company specializes in metal fabrication, rubber track and UHMW / plastic products. I had the chance to do a full factory tour and was truly amazed at some of what I saw being produced. The rubber division is making track systems for most of the commercial and agri applications (such as groomers, tractors, combines etc…) and more impressive- secretive military stuff.
I have met Gilles several times over the years (unfortunately he was in Florida on this particular visit). He is a very intelligent and engaging man. One thing is clear when visiting his modern conglomorate, he has somehow preserved the essence of a grass roots ‘mom and pop’ family run operation. It’s reflected in all his employees and it’s not uncommon to see Gilles himself wandering the factories floors, speaking to his people, still an active part in the day to day business. I find there is something very ‘human’ about this big company which leads me to my next visit.
A couple of hours to the south and west of Soucy lies a quaint little town called Coaticook nestled in the hills close to the US Vermont / NH border. I made a point to visit here while in ‘the hood’ because this is the home of G-Force and the worlds fastest snowmobile. Gilles Gagne and the staff at Gagne Lessard Yamaha, the local dealership and parent to G Force, have something truly amazing going on in the back of their shop. I have had the fortune (sometimes misfortune) of visiting / working with many different performance tuners and modification gurus over the years. I have learned to never take the performance gain claims at face value without asking a few questions and perhaps performing my own validation. I’ve seen enough to know when something is not transparent or too good to be true and I also know when someone is doing it right and is worth a second look. I can tell you one thing for sure, G-Force is the ‘real deal’. Gilles himself is brilliant and he has surrounded himself with a team who reflect his passion, ethic and vision.
I am thinking G-Force is one of the performance industries best kept secrets but if Gilles dream becomes true this is all about to change. I am going to write a detailed report of what I saw in his back room and include a bunch of interesting pictures of some of the mods including his world record (210mph) slipstreamer. He also has developed some special parts to help dial in the Nytro for improved groomed trail riding and is working on some easy and effective (affordable) bolt on horsepower for Yamaha 4-strokes but more on that later.
I couldn’t help but think of sir Tony and the Worlds Fastest Indian when I had dinner with Gilles. If you have never seen this movie, I highly recommend you rent it, throw a little ‘bean oil’ in a hot fry pan and crack a brew. It is a tribute to all back-yard tuners and motor heads with a dream and the passion to make it real. Gilles Gagne is one of these remarkable guys…
It is the magazine ‘Sneak Peek’ season when the manufacturers load up the grease guns and invite the key players of the print world and to some extent, the video and cyber media to top secret locations. Where they will be overwhelmed with new model presentations and hospitality in a quest for the most covers and editorial praise.
I had a chuckle reading the latest Supertrax where Mark and Kent were bantering about the best 4-stroke in their ‘Best in Class’ awards. Mark was reminded by his brother that he had just chosen the new Skidoo 1200 over the 09 Nytro based on a Sneek Peek ride. I’ll quote Kent’s reply to Mark’s comment:
“Very nicely stated Mark. If I were an idiot, I’d almost be convinced your choice was sensible… Here’s a word I didn’t here in your diatribe, ‘Prototype‘. Now after a few miles on a factory prototype Ski-Doo at 10,000 feet, you’re telling us you want to honor it with our coveted BIC award… with the changes to the 09 Nytro – big changes by the way – it’s dialed in to perfection and is the best 4-stroke sled I’ve ridden.”
My point is, the Sneek Peek’s certainly are a valid marketing tool, especially when you can capture an editor with a track record like the ‘Motorhead’ who has a reputation for accuracy and’ telling it like it is’. That’s not to say the new DOO won’t DOO it but I haven’t heard of any with over 50,000 clicks like some of our triples… time will tell.
I remember the spring of 2002 when we pulled the sheets off the original RX1 at the Yamaha Sneek Peek in Wisconsin. That was the same season Ski-Doo introduced the REV and the media had the challenge to decide on their front covers based on what they rode at the ‘Peek’s’ and following Snowshoot press introduction. (ed: for the record, we got the most )
Greg sent me a cool picture just before Christmas from our 03 model Peek. It made me reflect on a few things including where they all are now.
From right to left: Greg Marier, who before Yamaha was with Scorpion and Cat, has held the posts of managing the original R&D Minnesota facility in Coon Rapids in the 80′s and 90′s, leading product planning for YMUS, then leading marketing and public relations for the snowmobile division to where he currently sits, in charge of the factory race team development.
Beside Greg is Max Aoshima who retired a couple of years ago (but is still hanging around the factory). I first met Max in Alaska during field testing. He is one of the last pioneers of Yamaha snowmobile having worked on the original SL series, played in the hay-day SnoPro era and has had influence on just about every sled we ever produced. He finished up his tenure by taking care of snowmobile testing at our Minocqua facility with Jimmy (hey Cowboy!) Kedinger.
Next to Max is another well known Yamaha engineer, Toshi Yasui who is also a veteran of the snowmobile division, if memory serves me well he was first project leader of the Enticer series then Exciter and for sure he was project leader of Vmax 500/600 back in 92/93. I remember getting quite ‘red’ arguing with Toshi about how the ‘new Vmax500‘ was getting too heavy and the need to put the sleds on a diet. Then there was our TSS discussion, but I won’t go there… Toshi similar to Max is semi-retired and working out of the Tokyo office representing Yamaha with regards to Japan government relations. (Japanese companies are highly government regulated)
Next to Toshi is the father of the RX-1, Takaji (Tim) Nakano. Tim was the project leader for the RX-1 and is now in charge of the snowmobile engineering group. I remember first getting to know Tim as I drove him to Anchorage following a nasty sled crash in Paxson. He was project leader ofVmax4 800, when, on the airstrip at Paxson, he lost vision and flew off the end of the test track into a river. He dislocated his shoulder and bruised his ribs. I was to deliver him to the airplane home. I can still hear his moans from bouncing off the frost heaves cruising down the Denali hiway in an over-sprung Blazer.
Next to Tim is Mike Amano another snowmobile old-timer but more from the product planning side. Funny thing but I remember visiting Mike in a hospital in Asahikawa after he looped an SXR at a very high rate of knots cresting a steep hill up in Shibetsu. Mike is now working within the factories product planning division, governing all products, helping to develop the presentation methodology behind the machine.
Next to Mike is yours truly and I’m still here!
To my right is Ron Ruzewski. Ron is an engineer who came to us with deep roots in CART racing as a suspension guru. It was Ron who designed the A-arm suspension along with Tim and his team. At one point Ron actually had an apartment in Iwata Japan as he integrated into our factory culture. We lost Ron to Penske racing who made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Too bad he’s a good man who loved to ride snowmobiles, I remember trading paint with him on a couple of SRX’s one with the low legs (98 spec) against the less coupled 2000, sorry Ron but I knocked first!
Finally is Stephane Miville from Motoneige Quebec magazine, the official Quebec Federation Publication who assembled our team for the photo-op.
UPDATE; Hot off the press:
New cargo racks for Nytro XTX and Phazer MTX will be available mid January 2009. These racks feature lightweight, durable 5052-H32 Aluminum, with hydro-turf platform for better load stability. Includes exhaust turnout which must be installed with the rack- failure to do so could cause damage to cargo or rack. MSRP 274.95 CDN$
For the record, bloggers: lakercr, Low Slung and snoguzzler are the official winners of my little ABC’s trivia contest… no explanation, just winners! TMDT
Bracebridge Yamaha volunteered to prep the sled with some fresh carbides, studs and a set of low snow wheels. Dan at BBY also freshened up the chain-case oil, checked out all the fasteners and fluids then installed a pair of TRIC scratchers that we are currently testing for durability. The only 
mod was the addition of a second throttle lever for his left hand in case of cramping.
I loaded up my sled Wednesday morning and headed up to Big Win Island on Lake of Bays where I was met by Matt and h
is support crew. A local survey company had laid out an exacting 10.3 km oval course around the island. It was well staked with lots of reflectors. A start finish banner was erected in the middle of the front straight with a heated timing booth, 
generator and large construction light off to the side. The 2011 Apex was there, adorned with graphics depicting the different sponsors and Matthew in his new Klim suit (thanks Sue!) was calmly preparing for the longest ride of his life.
anking sub 5 minute laps and taking on fuel every 13-14 rounds, the sled is running great. Johnny is serving us warm, oozing pitas on the ice, while the boys continue to log and video the run for the Guinness 
adjudicators. After another couple of hours I eyeballed the sled (again) during a pit stop, everything looks good, I decide to leave the team and go get some zzz’s. Fast forward another seven hours, daybreak, my cell phone didn’t ring last night, jump in the truck, fingers crosse
d. I arrive at the lake just as Matt is taking his first break, some dry fish, ibuprofen and energy drink. He has been running strong all night and his lap times are coming steadily down. He’s running under 4 minutes 30 seconds now. He’s a machine!
only one stud left on the carbide and the inside isn’t much better with only two of the four studs left. The next pit stop we changed the carbides in record time, track was a bit loose but the studs weren’t contacting anything and the new Apex has extroverts… away he went, and cranked his fasted lap 
yet @ 17 hours into the ride. Fast forward to 10:35, the current world record of 2372km set by Dustin Shoemaker of Illinois on an Attak was about to fall, Matt slid under the banner with four and a half hours left to widen the gap. Apparently, Shoemaker was spent/exhausted after his run and could barely lift his arms. Matt got off and looked fresh as a daisy. He took a short break and I pulled the body panels for the first time, adjusted the chain case, checked the oil and coolant and threw on a fresh belt, just because… off he went and cranked a 4:15, he was still going faster! Jump forward to 3:00PM.
only broke the world record he annihilated it. He finished up approaching 3000km 24 hours. -Think about that for a moment.- He was averaging around 80+mph the whole time. The 2011 Apex required no maintenance or repairs outside of what I have mentioned. Matt gave kudos to the power steering, engine durability and suspension. Hugs, handshakes and a couple of tears. I am sincerely honored to have been a part of this.
What a great accomplishment for Matt and testimony to the QDR of our newest snowmobile. 23 hours wide open and not a single issue to be addressed aside from ripping the carbides off in the corners. Congratulations Matthew and congrats to our engineers, Nakano-san you built us one heck of a sled!
cr
