[93SafariDlx]

Hi All,

I was at a snowmobile racing event this weekend and saw a sweet looking machine ... I think I saw a pic of one on here earlier, but it was a Yammi VMax 800. Very nice lookin machine I thought. I don't see it on the Yamaha site tho ..

There were a lot of sweet rides there tho .. looking pretty fast too on the uphill drags.

The Yammi was on display only .. wasn't running.

Anyone else actually seen one?

 

[Junior]

dude, they haven't made Vmax 800's since my97, that was there last year, when they came out with the srx it kinda replaced them, they where real rockets tho, my uncle still grasses one, fast machine, I think it was actually the first 800cc sled on the market, but yami didn't stick w/ her

as a cool little tidbit, she was a 4-cylender machine, U'll often here yami guys refer to them as "quadsters"

they may be called snowmobiles, but hiding behind that is a cheap excuse to not grass drag.

 

[Sled_Dog]

not all VMaxs were 4 cylinders. There was the VMax and the VMax4. THe 4 oddly enough was the 4 Cylinder. I see them all the time. ANd it may possiblly have been the first production 800. There was of course the 900 TCat and 1000 TCat back in 95 at least. The Cat 900 at least came in a 4 cylinder version at one time too I believe. The VMax4 wasn't all together impressive over its brother the VMax but with quad pipes and some mods it became a massive drag machine.

 

[Junior]

ya, I've trail ridden them and they're absolute crap for that, but man, a set of hauck howlers, port and polish, and yer pullin 210 hp on that baby.

I've got pictures of my uncle on his, I'm gonna have to get some of my racing pics on a hosting service so I can show them here

anyways, ya, the Vmax-4 came out first in MY1992, and it was a 750 then, but in my'96 they gave it a big bore kit stock, really it's only like a 785 or something, but they call it an 800. I'm not sure about the Tcat's being quads, I certainly wouldn't be surprised. I THINK that Tcat 900's came out in MY1993 but I'm not positive, I know that in 98 they made them 1000's.

anyways, ya, that's todays history lesson I guess, the strangest thing about the old quadsters is the feel of the engine when U're driving them, it feels like a V8 (the crank indexing is the same) almost feels like it has a heartbeat at low rpm's. strange sled to drive, but they're wher it's at for bang for the buck drag racing these days.

they may be called snowmobiles, but hiding behind that is a cheap excuse to not grass drag.

 

[Sled_Dog]

Well the present Arctic Cat ZR 800s are only 785cc sleds. They still them 800s. Just the way it goes.

 

[XLR8]

Just a brief history lesson. The V-max name can be traced back to '83 when the first sled to carry the V-max name was introduced. It was a 540CC liquid twin. They were built through '87 when they were replaced by the Exciter. It was a replacement for the Original SRX. The SRX's were built from I believe '76 to '81. There was supposed to be a '82 SRX 500 but they had too many problems in prerelease testing and never released it. The V-max 4's were introduced in '92 as 750CC four cylinders. In 95 they went to 800, technically 785CC. The 95 800 was the fastest year for the V-max 4. In 96 they detuned the motor. 97 was a 96 with long travel XT suspension. A few side points. V-max 4's were notorious four twisting cranks when built to more the approx 170HP. They are still dominant in drag racing. One recently set a record ET in the 1/4 mile asphalt drags. Finally T-Cats have always been triples.

 

[Sled_Dog]

your sure there was never a four cylinder TCat? I have heard about the crank but if you were gonna build a real drag race sled changing a crank to a new stronger one wouldn't be beyond you.

 

[XLR8]

I'm sure, only triple T-cats. The typical fix for the crank was to pull it and have it welded.

 

[93SafariDlx]

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>Originally posted by Junior:

dude, they haven't made Vmax 800's since my97, that was there last year, when they came out with the srx it kinda replaced them, they where real rockets tho, my uncle still grasses one, fast machine, I think it was actually the first 800cc sled on the market, but yami didn't stick w/ her

as a cool little tidbit, she was a 4-cylender machine, U'll often here yami guys refer to them as "quadsters"

they may be called snowmobiles, but hiding behind that is a cheap excuse to not grass drag.[/quote]


If that's the case, then this machine was in absolute cherry condition for a machine that's at least 5 years old! But now that you mention it, the gauges were similar to the ones on my uncles 97 Venture. Oh well .. so much for "The Discovery of the Season!" LOL

 

[Junior]

ya, they're the same gauges as the old ventures. Ya, that Vmax-4 was built by Pat Hauck, but I THINK he sold it to Tim bender for that race, and the record is a 8.99 second 1/4 mile if memory serves. I'm gonna go look that up tho. In any case, they're AMAZING drag sleds, but not much on the trails.

Also, safari, you will notice that the suspension is strut, rather than trailing arm. That's a sign that it's pre-98, they actually kept a few strut models in 97, although I don't konw if the Vmax-4 was one of them.

also, this sled IS a discovery, lol, take one for a spin and you'll see what I mean, honestly, by the feel of them, I seriosly think that they're pulling more horsepower than the modern 800 twins, but they don't trail worth a crap, horrible on gas, poor ride, but MAN they fly. I always get a kick out of it 'cause they're speedo only goes to 180 kph (110mph), I really get the feeling that'd be buried quick

they may be called snowmobiles, but hiding behind that is a cheap excuse to not grass drag.

 

[Sled_Dog]

1, 2 or umm 20 VMax 4s here!

check out www.vmax4.com

 

[93SafariDlx]

Ohhh .. to have the $$ value sitting in that pic!!! Hell .. to have the $$ value of the fuel in the sleds in that pic!!! LOL

sux being broke!

 

[Junior]

It turns out that Pat Huack set that record himself, didn't sell the sled to bender. Recently sold it to one of the racers on his team tho. man that guy is fast.

they may be called snowmobiles, but hiding behind that is a cheap excuse to not grass drag.

 

[Super Dave]

Arctic Cat had a air cooled 4 cyl 800 in the early 70's. The King Cat . I belive Ski Doo had a couple also, 292 Ski Doo was a 3 or 4 cyl. I belive.
Nothing is new any more, just forgotten about untill it comes around again.

Do a search for vintage snowmobiles and you'll find some really cool old sled's, back when they only weighed 200 lbs not 500+ lbs.

Quit Yer Bitchin, Your Mama 's Not Here and I Do'nt Give A Shit!!!

 

[93SafariDlx]

I know what you mean about the vintage sleds ..

When I was growing up, if you had a 440 you were King shit of Turd moutain! I never knew until this year that there were 650's, 700's, 800's you name it .. big air cooled machines with the heads sticking outta the hood like the old spitfires ... and bigass exhausts to boot!!

They musta been crazy machines to ride.

 

[Junior]

Man, my dad has an old spitfire and that thing is a BLAST to drive, like it's only a 340, but man, it hauls @$$

it's great fun to ride, it'l catwalk from a stop to 60mph and then that's it, that's all she's got. weird sled to drive, but totally fun. Plus it's so light that if you get it stuck, like, grab the skii's and pull it out, no digging.

they may be called snowmobiles, but hiding behind that is a cheap excuse to not grass drag.

 

[Bobinwi]

i had a 83 john deere sprintfire 340 when i was younger liquid cooled oil injected that was a fun fun sled to ride i topped it out at 74 mph on the speedo even tho we know those arent that accurate but still it would boogie up to that speed and that sled took one hell of a beating from me. but i didnt care that was a 50 dollar sled.

bobby

My wife said its me or my sleds... Im sure gonna miss her

 

[Junior]

man, I've heard stories about springtfires, they're a rare sled these days, worth a pretty penny to if you've got one. ya, those old DD JD's would really boogie


they may be called snowmobiles, but hiding behind that is a cheap excuse to not grass drag.