This is about as hot-diggity as it gets. Rob Kincaid and Dave McClure face off a Polaris 800 RMK with 7 lbs. of turbo boost against a bone-stock Arctic Cat M 8000 ALPHA ONE.
The verdict: the ALPHA ONE’s remarkable traction advantage makes added horsepower a bit…irrelevant.
Boom!
Terrain domination….lol!
oh boy,,, be prepared a a rash of crap from the Poo boys!
1) Poo wasn’t setup right
2)clutching was bad
3) You took a poor running Poo to race
4) got a bad line
5) the Poo guy doesn’t know how to ride.
6) Its rigged!
7)_____________- fill in the blank
165″, 3.5 pitch, 3″ Powerclaw. (excellent track)
vs
155″, 2.86 pitch, 2.4″ Polaris Series 5.1 (poor track now discontinued)
I’ve seen this on Facebook and the comments are as expected. My favorite was “The guy was holding the brake the whole way”.
Wait until they see the mountain sled comparisons in the new American Snowmobiler magazine. The regular Mountain Cat is the lightest one wet or dry ! The mountain segment is definitely swinging the way of the Cat.
“The mountain segment is definitely swinging the way of the Cat”.Good to hear! Now if we could just get the trail segment to “Swing the way of the Cat” us die hard Cat guys in the Flatland would have something to beat our chests and cheer about. We need more horse power and better top end out of the 800 class. Last place in the horse power wars is not a good spot to be in.
Like you could out drive a current 800 let alone a 500 from two years ago there Bulldog.
Bulldog get a Thundercat and watch your buddies cry, if you set it up like and SRX and add the heaviest swaybar it will probably out corner your buddies as well. There is nothing on the snow close to a Thundercat or SRX and for under a grand you can get it to 300 hp, I’ve seen speeds up to 162 mph on a stock (tuned) engine.
I agree that the C-Tec 2 800 class engine needs more HP to be respected. AC has always had the best in class sleds, but lately they have fallen short on HP numbers, even the 600cc engine is a little lower on HP compared to the other 600cc engines from Doo & Poo.
Actually Derek, the 600 has more power than the Polaris and is spot on with the Doo according to the Amsnow Shoot out and was faster than both. The 800 broken in is as fast or faster than the comparable Doo and Poo as well. I dont understand the thought process of the need to be fastest. Handling is where it matters in the trails and that is where Cat has it all over the competition. Unless all you do is lake race?
JimR, cool I guess I missed that part in the magazine LOL. I wonder how come AC is still building the 570cc fan cooled engine in the Twin Spar chassis?
Low volume sled and guessing lots of left over 570 motors. Would not fit very well in the pro cross chassis without investing money in it which with low volume does not make much sense.
I can drive the hell out of an 800, 600, T-Cat or anything you put me on JimR. I currently have two 2106 6000’S, one 2016 8000 and an older 2001 500 and a vintage 1980 El Tigre 6000. I have never had a problem keeping up or losing people in the twisties. It’s when we hit the lake and driver skill is taken out of it that the current 800 is lacking. I don’t care for the weight of the 4 strokes so please don’t tell me to just go buy the T-Cat. I am a 2 stroke guy and want a more competitive motor in the top dog 2 STROKE CLASS. Just look at the Dyno Numbers out there. Cat consistently coming in at 150 when Doo is 165 and rumor is new Polaris will be in the 170 range. Not good!
I have seen plenty of races with the new Ctec against the competiton and it does just fine. You are making a mountain out of a mole hill Bulldog, but that is your deal. I prefer a sled that handles and rides well. Speed is over rated to me. Cat makes the best chassis out there and by far the most reliable two strokes made today. Racing a dyno is one thing. Real world is totally a different story.
JimR, okay makes sense. My wife prefers the Twin Spar over the new Procross chassis with her T570 Touring and our F1000 Sno Pro. She tried my ZR8RR and ZR6R XC and didn’t like em, she loved the speed though LOL. But what we really miss hearing and running is my old’96 T-Cat 900 triple.
Your entitled to your opinion and I’m entitled to mine Jim R. I’ll bet you $100 Cat’s 800 will be last in sales compared to the 850 Poo and 850 Doo. Horsepower sells.
We don’t drive dynos. Numbers don’t mean much. The sleds are rock solid, we just need people to go buy them. Increased sales will turn into more of the products we can be proud of. Like the Alpha.
I agree I Bleed Green but Cat came way too late to the direct inject party with the 800 and it cost them royally. It’s a nice motor if they would have released it in 2013! A long time Cat guy I know just bought a 2018 850 Doo because he didn’t want to start out with a brand new sled that is 50 cc’s behind the one his buddy bought. Cant say that I blame him. He also got it for $9,600 as a left over. Not many new buyers gonna go with Cat when you compare what you get apples to apples vs Doo or Poo. Just saying
If all we cared about was leading HP number’s in the 800 – 850 class engine category, we’d all be buying Poo’s or Doo’s. Some people only care about TOP HP number’s to outrun their bud’s, as I am fine with my ZR 8RR which to date has been rock solid and fast enough. I have have my F1000 Sno Pro which is top notch anyways so I am not worried about these new 850 class engines.
If I want to be the TOP DOG, I’d get the new T-Cat Turbo or the Yammi SRX Turbo. You’d never ever see me buy a Poo or Doo sled.
Bulldog: You think it matters who out sells who? Poos motor turns out to be a dud and guess what? No body will buy it. doo’s chassis is a fracture in the making. Cat is durable and in reality what one mile per hour or t he fraction of makes you feel better? Sad! This is a Cat site, last I checked.
Back to the video…. in my opinion it wasn’t very compelling. Make it a 2019 vs 2019 – best stuff from both and then I’m interested.
I also love my rr800 but when a 600 doo renegade with 11 k miles on it can pull me on the lake it sucks. I mostly trail ride and the 800 is perfect for that but when we get to a lake to cross it should be ahead of a 600. Im still a cat rider and will buy a new ctech 800 this year. Most of the guys I ride with have ordered the new xc850 hopefully it’s not a dud.
Just can’t help it, I have to chime in here. I don’t understand why it is that people have to beat others on their machines. If that’s the case then go buy that machine with more HP and go into the racing circuit if that’s your thing. My point is I just love to ride snowmobiles. Don’t care about who has the most HP. I don’t care if I beat the other riders on the lake or trail. I’m not out there to race anyone. I’m out there to enjoy the sport I love most. I’m a Cat guy and always will be. I smile every time I’m on my Cat and that’s what matters to me most. I will never get a Poo or Doo, they are just plain ugly. Don’t care if they have more HP. Every one has their opinions and wants and they are entitled to them. I just want snow so I can ride my Cat.
Another thing I always find interesting is that Poo and Doo people are on the Cat sites bad mouthing Cat. I don’t get it. I don’t go on there sites and bad mouth their brand or even look at them. Why are they on the Cat sites? Cat must intrigue them some how. The other brands don’t intrigue me. JimR you are right this is a Cat site. Let’s keep it that way. All others go somewhere else.
Sorry I/we got off the subject video John. That ALPHA ONE is one sweet machine!! If I was a mountain rider I would order one. I’m a trail guy so ordered the new IACT. When I was at the dealer ordering my new sled I noticed the orders they were getting and I would say approximately 75% of new orders were the ALPHA ONE.
I’m wondering if those guys did any jump comparisons with those sleds?
I agree Matt. Sometimes it’s flat out embarrassing out on the lake top end wise. I’m a Cat guy through and through. (you should see my garage) The reason I post these comments here is I hope the people in Thief River Falls are reading. They need to hear our concerns. If they put some long legs back in the 2 strokes people will be coming back to Cat instead of jumping ship. Sorry if my comments make you guys mad… I’m just calling it the way I see it.
The Alpha One looks awesome (and so do the graphics) and if I was a mountain rider I would be tempted to buy one. Never been riding in the mountains though so I guess I will keep my slow 16 and wait for something good performance wise for us flatlanders in 2020.
Back to the topic on hand. Also if someone gets the new IACT equipped sled and can test it in cold weather, let me know how it goes. I am from the Canada’s Arctic (Cambridge Bay, Nunavut) so I am wondering how they will work when it’s -30C? Let Poo and Doo fight it out in the 850 class, we still have the T-CAT guys/gals. AC eventually may build an 850cc class engine?
But remember AC said (via video) during the testing and development stages of the new C-Tec2 800, they tested an 850cc and 900cc engine size, but settled on an 800cc size due to better reliability and overall engine performance.