I had an assignment today looking at some structural damage to a pole barn. I couldn't help but notice dozens of vintage snowmobiles and engines stacked everywhere. These weren't ordinary sleds, but racing sleds from the 70's. Mostly 3-cylinder engines and the like, even a 850cc single-cylinder! The owner eventually took me to another barn full of the same. It was incredible. Even one raced by Jacques Villeneuve (Sr.) at Eagle River, Wisconsin (Gilles used to race sleds too before F1!!).
I've never owned a sled I told him, but I had a friend who owned 2 and we used to ride frequently on the lakes in Northern Michigan in the late 70's. I told him that one of the sleds was an uber-cool brand new 1977 Yamaha SRX 440A that was just plain scary fast. It was a factory racing sled. He then informed me that the 77 SRX is probably the most sought after of the factory racing sleds in today's vintage scene! 96HP and 350 pounds. In 78, he said they slowed it down because so many were killed on them.
Anyway, my main memory of the SRX was a flat-light day on the lake. My buddy wanted to see what his sled looked like at speed. So I took it down the lake and then did a fly-by as he stood there watching, easily topping 100MPH across the ice. He said it looked pretty cool :D On the return trip I was cutting across the lake at maybe 80MPH or so when I suddenly hit a bank of snow that had been plowed from a 'road' for the ice fishermen - it was hidden by the flat light and I didn't see until I hit it. It launched me high into the air but somehow I landed it rightside up and kept going ..... nearly a statistic :eek:
So I've got a real itch to buy one of these now. It's one of those clean, functional designs that is a real classic. Back then, I never knew the significance of the machine - all aluminum bulkhead, trick suspension, water-cooled, etc. - I just knew it was fast. There's a nice one on eBay now!