Yamaha has come up with a mind-bending concept called PD. It stands for “Performance Damper” and before you conclude this is some kind of new type of suspension shock, think again.

Amazingly, this is a conventional shock that is bolted to the frame of a snowmobile, usually under the hood, and it is designed to get rid of harmonic vibration and miniscule chassis movements due to flexing as the sled is being ridden. Total movement of the shock is measured in microns, so it’s very difficult to monitor the shock’s action with the naked eye.

The technology is patented by Yamaha, and Toyota, under license, has been using it for a couple of years on certain car models with measurable results.

By damping certain movements within the chassis of a car, counter effects to suspension action, bumps from the road and directional changes can be controlled much better and the net result is often much improved handling. PD is already being tested on snowmobiles and the test results have been pretty impressive.

When we first learned about this tech we though it was a con. After researching it, however, we’ve discovered the science here is valid.

We’ll be riding it this winter and can’t wait to see if it makes a discernable difference on a snowmobile.

Check the video below to watch Yamaha’s Chris Reid explain how it works. Pretty cool.

A story recently resurfaced from our 2011 archives on this website that was pretty thought provoking.

The article was entitled: Is Yamaha Bringing Back the SnoScoot?

Get real here: The SnoScoot has been out of production for over twenty years and we heard that the company had destroyed all the dies and tools to build them a decade ago. Not much chance of that particular Yamaha returning to production.

What’s truly an enigma is that the SnoScoot was never really a big seller back when it was in showrooms. True, people who bought them loved them for their teenaged riders and, novice women riders loved their lightness and maneuverability. However, not enough people were interested to the extent they would pay the bucks to own one.

What’s surprising is that this recent article re-surfaced with so many readers responding to it at the beginning of the season two years after it was posted. Read the comments from Facebook; there’s more of them and more “likes” than we get with some of the current hypersleds we write about.

This tells us there’s a lot of interest in a) finding a used SnoScoot or b) buying a mid-sized sled for kids and beginners to move up to from their mini-sleds.

One reader commented it was a bummer that the snowmobile industry produced all these little 120cc mini-sleds and built a bunch of rabid potential enthusiasts who race and ride them and then hung them out to dry with no sleds for them to buy when they got too big for their mini. We say “amen” to that.

You know, Yamaha has incredible access to fabulous 4-stroke scooter engines and drivelines. Using some of the old rider-forward SnoScoot design parameters, one of these EPA approved 4-strokes producing about 30-hp would be an exciting prospect – especially if it could be priced less than $6000.

We’ll see.

We’ve read emails and letters from our readers and viewers dissing certain sleds because their horsepower is lower than some competitive models.

It makes for interesting listening but we’re not sure horsepower alone is the defining factor making one snowmobile faster than the other.

Certainly, there are other important factors at play. Power-to-weight is a biggy. Provided drivelines are close to equally efficient, a heavier sled has to make more HP to beat a lighter sled with less ponies.

This is the case with say, the Turbo 9000 Cat and the 2-stroke 8000 Series. In a drag race, these sleds are mighty close and although the claimed power of both is about 15-17 horsepower apart, their weights are significantly different.

Here’s where it gets interesting. If you look at government EPA reports on snowmobile horsepower, by that rating system, every 2-stroke makes considerably less horsepower than the manufacturers claim. Meanwhile, the 4-stroke sleds tested report very close results to OEM claims.

Is someone lying? No. What is taken into account with the EPA system is a melding of torque and horsepower together.

Since 4-strokes make a ton of torque and 2-strokes tend to need RPM to generate big torque numbers, the duty cycle in which the EPA tests the sleds is different than what a performance shop would net on their in-house dynamometer.

Here’s our point: There are a number of factors that dictate what makes a sled go fast. Just because an 800 Indy makes less power (155) than a Ski-Doo 800 E-TEC (162) doesn’t necessarily mean one is going to beat the other on a trip down the lake.

If BRP were to bring Lynx snowmobiles across the ocean, what would they be like?

Keep in mind, the key word here is “IF”! However, you know us well enough that we’re always postulating theories and making up rumors about what the sled-makers might be doing.

We’re not sure if they’re reading our stuff or we’ve just been lucky, but it’s kinda amazing how close we’ve been to the truth over the years.

This Lynx thing just won’t die and we’re beginning to think there’s more truth here than fiction.

Just in case you didn’t know, BRP, parent company of Ski-Doo also owns another snowmobile company in Finland called Lynx.

The Lynx line-up is pretty amazing and although these sleds use much of the technology found in Ski-Doos such as engines, TRA clutches and basic chassis platforms, there are considerable differences in bodywork, chassis layout and suspensions (Lynx uses a PPS skidframe).

There’s enough difference that Ski-Doo actually sells its whole line-up in Northern Europe right next to the Lynx products and buyers there swear their preference for the Lynx.

We were wondering what kind of Lynx would appeal to the North American snowmobile buyer? We’ve ridden these sleds and have a pretty good idea what they feel and perform like (there is a notably different tactile “feel” to these European sleds).

For certain, suspension design is a whole new ballgame and since Europeans don’t favor trails the way we do here, the suspensions are not as compliant.

We think a really big upgrade in shocks and calibration would be necessary. Also, engine selections within certain model categories could be different. Lynx uses a lot of 2-strokes and fewer 4-strokes in its line-up.

Keep in mind, these sleds would be “true imports”, assembled entirely in Finland, not in Valcourt, Quebec.

We’ve been fielding comments from our readers and viewers about the new 900 ACE triple Ski-Doo is offering this year.

We’ll fill you in on what we’re hearing but first, it’s important to understand where Ski-Doo is coming from engine-wise.

Right now, Ski-Doo is arguably delivering the most comprehensive line-up of EPA-certified snowmobile powerplants compared to all other competitors.

With two 2-strokes that are super-good on fuel and EPA-efficient (600 & 800 E-TECs), too plus three 4-strokes offering clean exhaust and good (or even incredibly good) gas mileage, it’s sometimes difficult for consumers to figure out which engine provides the best combo for their individual needs.

It’s tough to argue the 800 E-TEC at 163-hp is falling short of delivering high performance value. However, a significant throng of performance-minded Doo-ers are opting for the over-achieving 4-TEC 1200 triple that makes 130-hp and a boatload of torque. Up to triple digits, 4-TECs are fast!

Likewise, if you’re getting out your checkbook this year for a new sled and you want to cruise trails, it’s tough to decide whether the 600 E-TEC or the 900-ACE is a better fit for your riding style. Prices on these two are pretty close.

Yes, the E-TEC is way faster (120-hp), but for long engine life, smoothness and all-day trail speeds, the 900 ACE (90-hp) makes incredible sense.

We were surprised so many Supertrax followers were so positive about the 900 ACE. We thought this performance range might be short of a bell-ringer for the snowmobiling masses.

The majority of those who reported in told us they would seriously consider this engine for their next Ski-Doo because it delivers power within a range in which they like to ride.

You can read some of those comments on this website in the article: 2014 Ski-Doo GSX LE ACE 900 (October 19, 2013).

Most of these were from people who hadn’t had the opportunity to put many miles on one so we’ll post more responses when the snow comes and the real production ACE 900s are on the trails.