Snowmobile News
Tuesday August 27, 2002


When the first sleds lineup at Haydays September 7-8, there will be one snowmobile noticeably absent from the field - Arctic Cat's Firecat F7.

Arctic Cat officials said the machine will hit the production line after Haydays, so it will not be ready to race at the grass drags in early September. "It's really a shame," one Arctic Cat official said.

Race fans will have to wait to see how the F7 stacks up against the competition. However, the Arctic Cat Firecat F5 should be racing at Haydays. Arctic Cat officials said grass drag racers should get the F5s before the big grass drag event near Lino Lakes, Minnesota.

It must be a pooch. *Why else would they delay it?

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It must be a pooch. *Why else would they delay it?[/b][/quote]
I think I read that somewhere else...

Too bad. *Someone got caught sleeping on that one and should be held accountable. *"Motors are on the boat" - poor excuse.

Win or lose, from an exposure standpoint - Big mistake!

I highly doubt that it is slow. Cat always builds fast well handling sleds. I&#39;m sure that they wanted nothing else than to have it drag at haydays. I don&#39;t think any other sled will come close to touching it in it&#39;s class. It&#39;s that huge weight advantage plus 140 ponies helps. It would have been interesting to have seen a 700 Rev to go against it. It&#39;s funny that the mags still say the zr900 is a better trail sled than the F-cats do to it&#39;s trail manners. I bet cat hasn&#39;t liked seeig that in print.
Caleb

It doesn&#39;t surprise me a bit that they wouldn&#39;t have them being built by Haydays. *AC is the absolute worst in planning and getting product(sleds) in the consumers hands early. *This is my second Cat that I have ordered(F7), and I do have to say that Cat gets a massive F in the planning dept. for sled deliveries.....
-JLeosnow

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">This is my second Cat that I have ordered(F7), and I do have to say that Cat gets a massive F in the planning dept. for sled deliveries.....
[/b][/quote]

What was the first one you had problems with. The reason for the later build was late engineering changes. Very good for those that bought one!!!

Not if those enginneering changes involved a 30 Hp cutback. http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

I dont belive that Arctic cat is hiding this sled from Haydays because of some performance issues, thats Yamaha style. * http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

I buy the fact that its simply not ready.

M10rules,

My 02 800CC was bulit in Nov. 2001, delivered to me on Dec. 20th and it has been in the shop fore times than any other sled I have owned. *Front shock issues, recoil exploding, slide rail holes ovaled out. *There was no over engineering going on with this sled, I&#39;m sure of that....
-JLeosnow

more times, not fore

-JLeosnow

My brother Spring ordered a 2001 ZRT600, in the Spring of 2000 and he did not get the sled until Mid December, for whatever reason and hasn&#39;t had any probelms. Granted, the ZRT600 had been around since 1995.

JPL-the 02 Zr800CC was suppose to be one of the first they made last year but a last second change pushed it to last build. They made some changes to the airbox if I remember right. The shocks are bad on those (d*mn ACTs) and the recoil is a recall.

My money is on the fact that the F7 will be alot heavier than they origionally claimed and that every magazine will be all over it for sure when they find out the real wieght of the sled.

How much more heavier who knows for sure...we have all heard as much as 30 pounds heavier...if that&#39;s true, they will have alot of pissed off people no doubt.

They are banking on that sled, so it doesn&#39;t suprise me at all why they will delay as much time as they can before they have to bring it out. http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sly.gif

I will be so happy when the Firecats are delivered, I can hear the ulcers in this forum getting bigger. http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

since when does haydays decide which sled to buy?the f7 will rock this winter.

I don&#39;t think the Fs will be a great drag sled anyway. *They weren&#39;t designed to be in my opinion. *I think that they were designed as a lightweight ditchbanging sled. *I think in the years to come were going to see more specialized frames to fit our different riding styles.

It almost seems like some of the sled companies spend more
on promoting and advertising there sleds than they do on
quality control these days http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif They try and convince people that this new sled is gonna be the next best thing before the
friggin thing even hits the grass drags or let alone a full normal production machine even touches the snow.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (z800rtx @ Aug. 29, 2002, 3:22pm)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It almost seems like some of the sled companies spend more
on promoting and advertising there sleds than they do on
quality control these days http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif They try and convince people that this new sled is gonna be the next best thing before the
friggin thing even hits the grass drags or let alone a full normal production machine even touches the snow.[/b][/quote]
It all comes down to the almighty buck $$. http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sly.gif

I don&#39;t think the F7 will be 30 lbs. heavier. I think more like 12-15 lbs. Either way, with 140hp it is going to rock. I&#39;d rather have it a little heavier and have it hold up than have it super light wieght and fall apart at the seems.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It almost seems like some of the sled companies spend morem on promoting and advertising there sleds than they do on quality control these days [/b][/quote]

That&#39;s why I applaud Bombardier to come out with a sled, race it and have trial sessions before they take orders. The other big 3 should follow their example.

The FireCats were raced last year in everything from snocross to the Iron Dog. *Cat beats the absolute p*ss out of there sleds before the consumer gets them. *I wouldn&#39;t worry about quality. *Everyone new all summer they wouldn&#39;t build the F7 before labour day. *This is a disappointment, but shouldn&#39;t be a surprise.

Some of the tests of the F7 show it to be faster than the 800&#39;s because of the weight difference. It was reported as sticking with the 900 till top speed only then loosing out.

Now because it isn&#39;t going to be at haydays its a slug? Even if its as heavy as a Rev, the only competition is the *Polaris. The Rev 800 won&#39;t beat it never mind the 600, the RX-1 won&#39;t beat it, The SRX is dead. The F7 is way lighter than the Polaris so why the long faces.

Then again I could be wrong! NOT

I think the REV800 has a good chance of beating it. *THe REV600 turned out numbers as good as the Mxz 800 ZX. *THe Rev 800 might turn out even faster numbers.

ZRT800-If you think Arctic Cat or any other company beats the crap out of their sleds and puts in all this test/R&D time you are sadly mistaken...the consumers are the testers-believe it.

Not only that, but you cannot possibly compare testing on a race track to testing in the real world of snowmobileing that we live in-they are 2 different animals.

The race sleds dont see hardly any long term miles at all.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">That&#39;s why I applaud Bombardier to come out with a sled, race it and have trial sessions before they take orders. The other big 3 should follow their example.[/b][/quote]
Doo didn&#39;t do anything different with the REV that hasn&#39;t been done in the past by Cat, Poo, or Yamaha (with the exception of heavy marketing). *They&#39;ve all raced protos. *They&#39;ve all put protos on the snow before pre-season ordering...

I don&#39;t totally agree that Cat doesn&#39;t test their sleds. *They ride those things all summer long. *True, racing doesn&#39;t give any long term data but it sure gives a baseline as to what might and might not work. *And true, there are still too many bugs being missed that the consumer ends up paying for.

SKidoo has a 12 mile track were they test there machines night and day untill they break. *THen they find out why they brake change things and run them again. *When they tell you there engines are good for 40000km its becasue they did it on there track. *

Now i dont belive that we will all get 40000km becasue in the real world its a lot tougher on the sled, but it does mean that it was tested.

Skidoo Raced the Rev, allowed everyone to see it, let people drive it and test it, magazines did a number of reviews on it. *And then they opened the doors at the dealer.

I have not seen or heard about the F7. And anything you read so far was probably wrote by arctic cat. *The Race F7 was and will be totally diffrent then the one your going to drive. *

Although I have no doughts on how the F7 will perform however I have serious concerns on how this sled will hold up. *Arctic cat is trying to beat skidoo at the light game but i think it will turn around and bite them in the A$$. *Normally the cheapest way to make a sled lighter is to use weaker parts and have those parts do as manythings as possible.

They ride those things all summer?http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif Where all summer??? And what does summer have to do with a winter sport?

Arctic Cat doesn&#39;t do enough testing period. I cannot vouge for Ski-Doo, but Polaris and Yamaha are in the same boat as well-consumer testing.

Remember when the new 500 and 600 twins came out in 98? If they rode them so much, why did they have so many problems then? Pistons(600), excessive oil consumption, poor fuel mileage, leaking chaincases....

Yes, all summer. *Talk to someone in TRF (or any of the R/D departments for that matter). *I haven&#39;t personally witnessed this taking place but have read a few articles written about testing snowmobiles in the summer months. *We all understand that this is a winter sport but is R/D supposed to close it&#39;s doors when the snow melts? *You make do. *
I&#39;ll be the first to agree that the consumer gets shafted sometimes but much of that is not related to R/D and testing. *Did R/D have any control over the junk that was ending up in the gas tanks last year? *Or did R/D order the bad batch of pistons in 98? NOT

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Skidoo Raced the Rev, allowed everyone to see it, let people drive it and test it, magazines did a number of reviews on it. *And then they opened the doors at the dealer.[/b][/quote]

Didn&#39;t Cat do the same with the Firecat? *Ya it was called the SnoPro but I bet Blair wasn&#39;t riding the same sled that was at the consumer shows either.

Yes they test in the summer. They all do, they also test in the mountins in the summer. Here&#39;s a summer pic.

Man, they really put those wearbars and sliders through some tough tests don&#39;t they. *ha ha *http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif *http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif *http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif *http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

I think I rode through there last winter. What a bitch!

bush trails rule * http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Huh.. uh Huh uhh hh!! * * * ...He said bush!

I guess You people have not HEARD the f/7&#39;s DID run at haydays and DID kick butt. They out ran everything but the 800 which they matched time with. Check out some of the other sites to hear the good news for F/7 owners, bad news for the rest of you riders.
Have a great one. :D

Okay thanks for the info :withstupid: