After announcing this past November that they were dropping their snowmobile race efforts Yamaha announced today that they are going to produce a Snow Cross and Oval purpose built sleds. “After seeing our giant success at this years Soo-500 we decided that we can once again be a force in racing” said Mike Doughty, Snowmobile Product Manager.The new SnoX sled will expand on our push into the 4stroke market. It will feature an engine very similar to the YZ450F motor but will be a twin cylinder 800cc motor with changes needed to make it winter friendly. With 2 less cylinders to work around the chassis is narrower and accommodates a 14” track easily. With the new track, Yamaha has come out with a new skid that reduces weight by 20% and uses 35% fewer parts. The front end will be a modified RX-1 front end to accommodate the narrower bulkhead and the added abuse from SnoX style racing. The new Oval sleds will be built in 2 different sizes. The first one is an 800cc twin 4 stroke very similar to that of the SnoX engine but higher revving. The basic chassis is similar to the SnoX sled but lower seating and geared higher. “More priority was put into cornering at high rate of speed, where as most are just SnoX sleds that can’t handle high speed cornering” Doughty said.
The second oval sled is a “Modified” RX-1. Fuel-injection was added and utilizes a highly programmable system to make tuning easier. It also increases horsepower and mileage for enduro style racing. Suspension has been lowered to accommodate high speed cornering.
“We are hoping with these major changes, we can once again dominate racing” Doughty added. “This past year was hard for us not being directly involved in the racing scene like we always have been before. If this year proves to be as successful as we believe it will be, we are prepared to offer a full range of race purpose sleds for a race program and also to consumers in detuned versions.” Doughty said. Although no pictures are yet available for release, some of our staff got a chance to check these 3 new sleds out and we were very impressed. Doughty refused to comment on who was going to be first inline for these new machines, but said that several contracts have been signed and will be introduced to the public at a later date at a press conference where they plan to reveal some more goodies about the new sleds and team members.
The second oval sled is a “Modified” RX-1. Fuel-injection was added and utilizes a highly programmable system to make tuning easier. It also increases horsepower and mileage for enduro style racing. Suspension has been lowered to accommodate high speed cornering.
“We are hoping with these major changes, we can once again dominate racing” Doughty added. “This past year was hard for us not being directly involved in the racing scene like we always have been before. If this year proves to be as successful as we believe it will be, we are prepared to offer a full range of race purpose sleds for a race program and also to consumers in detuned versions.” Doughty said. Although no pictures are yet available for release, some of our staff got a chance to check these 3 new sleds out and we were very impressed. Doughty refused to comment on who was going to be first inline for these new machines, but said that several contracts have been signed and will be introduced to the public at a later date at a press conference where they plan to reveal some more goodies about the new sleds and team members.