This winter in town we are having an enduro race with vintage sleds.
The rules are:
1 1980 or older
2 leaf springs only

What type of sled should I be looking for if I want to win?
:hallo1:

1970 776 Blizzard. I'm a sucker for the old iron!

Make sure you know a good chiropractor!

Where do you live?that sounds like my kind of game
If you can find one a Rupp Nitro or Merc trail-Twister would be good,but for an enduro I'd look for a 440 fan cooled sled,any manufacturer as long as it ran good.
But if it was me I'd get a Cat ;)

Yea, buy a Rupp if you want to stop and fix it every mile and if you have a crane to get it unstuck if it gets stuck...find a 1976 to 1979 Polaris TX 340 or 440 F/A I had two of them and they ran in up to 50 degree weather and I could not kill those machines, and they were very light and fast, my 340 would go about 70 on a lake...just my 2 cents SWRules

Skidoo everest 444 LC, those were fast sleds.

76 srx!!!!!!!

A 1978 Ski-Doo Blizzard 6500 Plus. One of the fastest vintage sleds out there. It has a 340 lc twin w/twin pipes. It even has a warning sticker saying that it may be faster than any snowmobile you have ridden before (not kidding). There is one for sale on e-bay right now.
Where are you located, because I would be interested in racing my Blizzard or Kawi.

Get a 1980 srx. Very light and fast if you can find them.They won alot of races back then. Factory had magniesm chassis and carbon fiber hood , super light.

76 AC Z440. Built for racing. My budies cousin has one and ran it in a race against newer sleds 3 years ago in I think Gaylord and took 2nd place. Not bad for an old sled.

I like the merc,maybe the cat eltigre 440 free air,maybe my kawasaki invader with twin aaens. :p

If you had access to unlimited parts I could think of lots of very good sleds some are named above.

The fact is you want to enduro race so parts and people you know or can talk to for setup should be the 2 big things to look for.
If it was me I'd look for:
Polaris Centurion, it's a L/C 3 cyl and can make big HP still lots of new parts, and used parts & sleds are cheap.
Blizzard 9500, the small Rotax twin still make more hp~cc than any other and it's been around so long lots of people know how to make big hp and still live. Like the other, used sleds are still around and cheap.
Just my 2 cents, not my wish list... I'm working my wish list ;)

Look at the old race results for the Soo 500. Polaris triples were a force to be reckoned with. Seems like the Yami's were right in there also.

AL

Back in the day(around 1989), I bought a used sled from a TV station, when I bought it it had about 300 kms on it, and it was over 10 years old. The TV station had bought it to run a couple of commercials with it. It was a 1977 Yamaha Exciter 440.

I would run that thing on the ice to a top speed of 155 kms. (thats about 95 miles/hour).
My biggest mistake............... Selling her.
Unfortunately I can find a picture of her anywhere :(

For the people who wanted to know where the race is, it is in Manitowoc, WI between Sheboygan and Green Bay.

1978 6500 or 1979 7500 Blizzard. A good running one could take a 500 Centurion! Stock for stock. :p

the old king cat. remember this sled what a beast :0: :D

I had a 1979 7500 Blizzard, and there is no way that it was any were near as fast as a centurion.

I would go with a 1978 John Deere " cross country"

and if you need a sled for big air how about a 1969 Johnson!!!

I've been to a few and rode in one as a team. In our events we had to be pre '74 and stock single cylinder. No suspension changes, or any mods, I think the only thing you could change was the carbs..Upgrading from the Tilston..It was a gas, tough on your ###,back,shoulders every part felt it the next day but it was worth it. The race was 100 miles. Most of the sleds didn't make it that far. Just to see some of these old clunkers running around was fun. Your event doesn't have any other restrictions? Boy the choices are huge. My choices would be on one that is in good shape and runs fine, after all it will be the driver who makes most of the difference. One thing...If you are doing ovals or a grand prix style the cleated tracks are very slippery buggers to handle on the corners, spin out city! Keep us informed.