With Yamaha pretty much reigning as the 4-stroke high performance kings of the snowmobile industry, we’re curious to see if Ski-Doo is poised to step up and deliver a 160-plus horse 4-stroke soon.
The new Apex currently generates about 163 ponies without a turbo or a supercharger.
This is pretty substantial power and, when you mix in the incredible torque a 4-stroke delivers, it would be difficult for a competitor to match it.
Ski-Doo’s 1170cc 4-TEC triple is an interesting candidate for matching the Apex’s power output.
The 4-TEC is currently a fairly under-stressed engine generating about 130hp with a single throttle body and pretty tame cam timing.
We’ve asked several engineers if this engine is capable of putting out power at the next level and they unequivocally claim it can (this usually means they’ve already built one).
We think there’s a possibility the next generation of the 4-TEC could be a naturally aspirated engine of the same displacement with three throttle bodies and different pistons, cams and valves.
Originally, we thought this mill would need a turbo etc, to get to these power levels but it looks like the power potential is already there and most certainly, the cost to produce a high output 4-stroke would be kept in check if the engine was naturally aspirated.
