some apex sleds are fast and some are not why?

[BA APEX]

noticed very little difference, if any, in TOP end on glare ICE.
ran tons of radar last yr and several different weight riders. no difference it pure top end. riders from 160lbs to 310lbs.
however if you have less than glare ice conditions or not more than 3/4 of a mile to get to very top then you will see differences in the speeds.

BA i am not sure just what you are trying to say,i know you have a very fast apex,at least on ice,you have seen 120 plus,thats a couple more than i ever saw on my 06,but it would consitantly run 110plus on snow thats gps speeds,now i imagine your runs those speeds on snow as well,buy seeing it go.

I mean when you are on glare ice with enough room to get to your total top end, the weight of the rider doesn't make a difference in the top speed.
I aggree that getting to your top end is faster for the lighter rider.
And on anything other than glare ice, the lighter rider is going to put up better numbers.

 

[Sled Dog]

I disagree you only have so much hp period. When you have heavier rider you have to take x amount of weight to y amount of speed. You will run faster top end with a 100lb rider as opposed to a 250lb guaranteed.

 

[BA APEX]

I disagree you only have so much hp period. When you have heavier rider you have to take x amount of weight to y amount of speed. You will run faster top end with a 100lb rider as opposed to a 250lb guaranteed.

on ice with no resistance there was no difference in top end with several different weight riders on my sled.
I have radared and ran back to back runs with several differnt riders with weights ranging from 160lbs(my son) to 310lbs (my weight at the time). ran several different days last yr and have tons of runs.
like i said before, if your in snow, packed trail, powder, or anything other than ice,... or talking getting to top end faster... the lighter rider will be quicker/faster.

 

[snowbeast]

I disagree you only have so much hp period. When you have heavier rider you have to take x amount of weight to y amount of speed. You will run faster top end with a 100lb rider as opposed to a 250lb guaranteed.

Only time a 100# rider will beat a 200# rider is in a short race,say 1/4 mile or even 1/2 mile maybe,but top speed is dictated by friction,and drag. If you have a 300# rider that is tall and can tuck in behind a windshield,and a 150# rider that is short and bulky and can not get out of the wind,and they both have similar sleds,with similar hp it will be a toss up,now throw in the lighter sled with same hp,as heavier sled with same hp,same result,we run alot of speed runs,and my little buddy weighs 150# wet,i weigh cough 280# wet when he had his 04 rev which was about 140hp and i had my one ton 03 rx1 at about 140hp but alot more weight,he would kill me in the trails,and on take off if we drag raced,if we lined up for a drag race acrossed the lake he would get buy me so bad that it would take me over 1 mile to even pull up to him,and buy than we would run out of lake,but if we were on snow,i would never catch him period,and we would trade sleds and same results,his sled would run its best gps speed of 114 and mine of 117 gps,but now we both have apex sleds and mine at least my 06 apex/attak was faster than his on ice,but not all that far behind him even on snow,with my shorter gear 23 top to his 24 top,weight to ratio,makes a huge differance on snow,but drag makes a much bigger differance on bare ice,if you run far enough weight means nothing only hp dictates.

 

[Sled Dog]

Then someone who 1000lbs could win a race is that what you guys are saying. Find that one hard to believe. If it is dictated by friction the heavier guy will lose because of the added friction on the skis, sliders and wheels.

 

[08NitroRTX]

got to go with Sled dog on this one!

BA Apex,
Maybe the reason that all the different drivers achieved the same max speed is because their weight (or difference in their weight) wasn’t the limiting factor of why your sled only runs a certain speed! Not to get in the middle of this but, f = ma -- that is force is mass times acceleration. If you are reaching the same terminal velocity with reasonable different amounts of mass on your sled then mass is NOT why your sled tops out at that speed! (one should NOT assume because of this weight doesn’t affect speed) Now many other factors could be affecting speed but in this case but rider weight is not it. Now it could be gearing, clutching, wind resistance, HP, etc etc.
But for one to say weight doesn’t affect speed, one would be wrong, it does but so do other factors. Like sled dog said it may take an extreme amount to become noticeable or for weight to over come some of the other factors that limit speed but it IS there and weight DOES affect speed!

 

[QCRider]

Rider/sled weight affects acceleration far more than it affects top speed. Sure there will be some extra friction, but at the top end the amount of the extra frictio is small when compared to wind resistance and rolling resistance already encountered by the sled.

 

[pro116]

I have done alot of testing on timers and radar.
The weight reall affects accelleration more than top speed.Rider weighy will affect speed in lower distances like 1/4 mile or shorter but when your wide open throttle thewre is liitle differnce between my buddy and me who are 105lb weight difference.

 

[snowbeast]

Everdrntly you missed the point a little,DRAG/FRICTION snow has lots of friction,far less on smooth ice if set up properly,even all stock sleds are faster on ice than snow,how many apex sleds have gone over 120 gps on snow,and are stock motors?? Now alot more have surpased that number on ice,have they not,just check some of the postings on this site,and when i talk drag,as far as a stock sled goes i mean driver sitting upright like a sail,vrs tucked way down low low low!!! And lets talk reasonable really how many 1000lb drivers do we have!!