There’s tremendous hype this year about Ski-Doo’s new 800 E-TEC and the redone 800 SDI from Polaris. We;ve sampled both and all we can say is these are two very fast, very competitive hyper engines. Fact is, Cat;s current 800 is pretty darn good, too.

It would appear everything is rosy on the big-inch front right now. However, is there something on the horizon no one anticipated? With the current flat economy and the cost of fuel being high, many former hyper owners we’ve talked to are telling us they’re so happy with their 600 class snowmobiles, they don’t see the necessity to move up to a bigger displacement mill.

It’s true, too. The current performance levels of 600 engines like Ski-doo’s E-TEC and the Cleanfire Polaris 600 are so strong that, when combined with the lightness of their new chassis platforms, the power-to-weight ratios of these models is incredibly good and perhaps is at the acme of what the class has ever delivered.

All of those old Formula and Indy 600 sleds of a bygone era made about 100 ponies and were considered the muscle sleds of their day. 120-horsepower is the standard of today’s sleds in this displacement range and there’s plenty of power and torque to keep even the most aggressive rider entertained.

Despite the fact the early season sales of 800 sleds has been extremely robust this year, there seems to be an equal amount of interest in the 600-class and it’s taken the industry by surprise.

Clearly its Arctic Cat’s turn to step up with something new for MY 2012.

Not only does 2012 mark the company’s 50th anniversary as snowmobile OEM but industry standard product cycles all point to Arctic Cat’s F chassis and the Crossfire platform as due and overdue for updating.

Here’s the thinking in most corners of the biz. When the F chassis was born Arctic went down a road which saw them increase creature comforts and address ergo issues with their IRP system.

While these features have been well received, the F chassis came out of the gate heavier than any new platform released since its intro.

This means the weight game is clearly what buyers are into and we suspect any chassis AC intros will have not just light but super-lightweight as its calling card.

We feel the company will introduce a new platform capable of using both 2 and 4 stroke power and able to cover both 121 inch trail spec track lengths and 136-141 inch X-over lengths – all in one light platform.

Before you go too far with all this and assume the very trick, light and innovative Sno-Pro will be the basis for the new 50th Anniversary ride we’re betting it won’t.

We do think bits of Sno-Pro will show up in anything the company builds but the Sno-Pro’s single minded racing demeanor precludes it from full-on consumer use – in our humble opinions.

There’s been a lot of speculation about the new “top secret” chassis from Arctic Cat currently under development.

The fact is, the company made almost no changes to its product line last year and Cat fans are absolutely rabid to find out what’s up.

The Cat brass make no bones about the fact 2012 will be a big year for Arctic Cat with some significant changes to its model line-up. Here’s what we think:

There’s been some disappointment in the ranks that a new, extremely lightweight chassis based on the Sno-Pro 500 and 600 race platform has not materialized.

Truthfully, with some minor re-fabricating (ie: lengthening the engine cradle area of the sled) this would be a stellar foundation to build a slew of high performance 2-strokes and even 4-strokes around.

The current Twin Spar chassis is in its fifth iteration and the Crossfire is also long in the tooth. With different track lengths, the modified race chassis could serve the mountain, crossover and trail marketplace adequately.

We think Cat is looking at rationalizing its model lineup like Ski-Doo has with its XP chassis and, to a lesser extent, Polaris with its new Pro-R platform.

It’s way cheaper to build all your products on the same chassis with different engines than to build several completely different platforms and, when you’ve already beaten the weight formula, why start over?

The people who market power products are in a frenzy these days looking for silver linings in the fog of the worldwide economic recession. Here’s where it gets both interesting and fuzzy. No one whose head sucks air can deny there’s been some diversification in the way snowmobilers glean information about their favorite sport.

In fact, the emergence of Facebook, You Tube, Twitter and snowmobile-specific websites has changed the way businesses get info to their customers.

We are not oblivious to this and, in fact, we participate in more varied forms of media than any other powersports publishing entity. Our sister broadcast partner, SnowTrax Television, grabs more viewers annually than all other powersport TV shows.

Our websites are powerful tools we use to enhance the messages in this magazine, the largest circulation snowmobile enthusiast publication in North America and SnowTrax TV’s 10 million-plus annual viewers.

Point is, there’s an incredible temptation to believe these alternate media sources contain some magic group of people not currently being accessed. In fact, in some corners of the industry there’s a feeling significant numbers of snowmobilers may be “falling through the cracks” if advertisers don’t promote their stuff in every form of communication.

It’s true from this perspective only: Yes, people are using variant forms of media. What is not true is the notion the groups who hang around these media variants are different from those who read and view the more traditional mediums. Go on any snowmobile chat room after a controversial issue of Supertrax (maybe this one) or a thought provoking episode of SnowTrax has aired and the chatter is about those very issues. What does this tell us?

The sales of new snowmobiles and the registrations of the aging fleet is a highly accurate and reliable tool for gauging the potential market. A good indicator of the state of the market is a quick poll of used sled sales and availability across the snowbelt.

Clearly, used iron is selling strongly, to the point we’re tracking rising prices on late model used units. This is a 100 percent sure sign the market is recovering and buyers are re-entering the marketplace.

So, is there a huge mystery pool filled with potential buyers using alternate media but not reading enthusiast publications like Supertrax? The answer is no.

Are there “returning buyers” perhaps the strongest potential periphery market right now, who are not watching SnowTrax Television at least a half dozen or more times a season? Not likely.

The reality is this: The snowmobile business is far more established than most other powersports segments. Snowmobile buyers are a much more financially stable demographic thus are more able to buy or finance a new or used snowmobile.

Snowmobilers who are active know they need a new sled every three and most certainly, every five years. These are core buyers who have held back, just a bit, as a result of the economic recession. However, they’re registering their sleds, buying trail permits and, most importantly, riding their snowmobiles everywhere there’s snow.

The mystery market is no mystery at all. We get feedback from the largest number of potential buyers year round. We know you read Supertrax and you watch SnowTrax. Many of you use our busy websites supertraxmag.com and SnowTraxtv.com to get info between mags and between shows.

Some of you are on Facebook talking with our TV crew, some of you are on You Tube watching episodes of SnowTrax TV or on our video portal at both supertraxmag.com and SnowTraxtv.com.

The reality check for those who think this market is limitless is simply this: It isn’t. At this time in history we at Supertrax and SnowTrax TV need to clearly and concisely speak to the broadest and biggest number of snowmobilers we possibly can to satisfy the needs of our advertisers.

In case it has escaped you, we can’t do what we do without advertising revenue. To this end, thanks for your enthusiastic support for the sport’s most opinionated and largest circulated en-thusiast publication, Supertrax International Magazine.