A quick trip to Thief River Falls over the past couple days provided some cool sights and interesting developments.

When Arctic Cat coaxed 160-plus hp out of its 800 laydown twin via new exhaust, pistons, cylinder porting, EFI calibration, ignition timing, APV valves and the good ol’ Greg Spaulding voodoo, it prompted the strong recommendation that owners use 91-octane fuel.

For the past several years, Kirk Hibbert has made a point of selecting the Sno Pro 600 race sled whose serial number ends with 68 for his son Tucker.

How does 142 mph on asphalt sound? It sounds like another speed record for the Z1 Turbo.

See what Haydays looks like in 124 seconds, courtesty of Arctic Cat World's Fastest Snowmobiles.

This is Pat Mach, fearless leader of the United States Cross-Country (USCC) and in many ways the savior of snowmobiling’s purest form of racing.

In Part I of this series we established that the 800 H.O. and 600 consumer twins don’t fit into the Sno Pro race chassis. The question I had is, “Why wasn’t the chassis designed to accept these consumer-friendly engines?”

American Snowmobiler magazine reserved its highest praise for select 2010 Arctic Cat models, including Best Sled, Best Mountain and Best Touring.

For the second weekend in a row Arctic Cat’s new CFR 800 showed that it’s the dominate sled in the 800 class.

Photo by Wayne Davis

Delivered by pack mule to the ArcticInsider van down by the river, an interesting news item from Ultimate Sports Inc., about a new track assist unit for snowmobiles.

For the past three years, Arctic Cat has proudly supported the Pink Ribbon Riders breast cancer organization, whose mission is to create awareness for breast cancer in women and men, and to financially assist those in need.

Few sites are as entertaining and informative as the RVs section of your local Craigslist. Here is a classice example of what I'm talking about, along with my expert commentary.

THIS is the live link if you want to see it for yourself

The last year at its Forest Lake location was definitely one for the Haydays record books. Heat, sun and good laughs were on full-bore.

The annual kick-off to winter also proved to be a kiss-off to the competition at the Sno-Baron’s Haydays grass drags, with Arctic Cat’s new CFR 800 delivering the “World’s Fastest Snowmobiles” message with unmistakable clarity.

If you have a few spare dollars and would like to own what is possibly the single most valuable collection of vintage Arctic Cat snowmobiles in the world, you're in luck.

The biggest event in snowmobiling once again lived up to its billing, as throngs of sledders converged at the kickoff to winter. ArcticInsider was there to bring you sights, sounds and smells of this annual shindig.

In just his first season in the Pro snocross ranks, Polaris pilot Brett Bender scored three Open class wins, making the most of his talent, Tucker Hibbert’s hiatus and his dad Tim’s top-notch sled preparation. He also used an Arctic Cat rear suspension and track.

Paul Bauerly, one of the top talents in the national Semi-Pro ranks last winter is turning pro and will race for Team Sportech aboard Arctic Cat for the 2009-2010 season.

Seen deep inside Arctic Cat's engineering department, a three-plug head for the 1000 laydown twin.

Two-and-a-half years ago, snowmobile legend C.J. Ramstad and the Minnesota Dept. of Tourism created this wonderful short promo film about snowmobiling in Minnesota.