Canadian Two-Stroke Pioneers
Canada’s reputation for ice and snow during the winter is a given so I guess it only makes sense that some drag racing applications will evolve from all that….
While snowmobile-powered dragsters are still pretty much a rarity in North America, there is a couple of Canadian racing teams leading the charge, one from the West and one from the East.
Grand Prairie AB is home base to this new snowmobile-powered dragster - new on the scene in 2011
From Grand Prairie Alberta, racing partners Mitch Florence and Robert Cote first hit the track during 2011 with very interesting project. That team transformed a former “Junior Comp” Rowdy Race Car dragster chassis by outfitting it with a rather technological marvel motor. They installed a 2000cc triple-cylinder two-stoke motor that was designed and built in house by their own companies — Split Second Performance and the Mod Shop.
“We were interested in making more power for our snowmobile and ATV business,” said Robert Cote. “We saw this dragster as a good opportunity to build something that was unique and also which could be used as a test bed. We bought the chassis second hand, and then cut it and modified it to install our motor program.”
Robert Cote
Cote and Florence, who are also known within asphalt sled drag racing circles, run their dragster, which weighs in at right around 1000 lbs, mostly at Castrol Raceway near Edmonton, in the No Box ET class. The slick creation, which is rated at about 330 HP, has run in the 9.3 secs zone so far.
Mitch Florence also revealed a totally unique mechanical aspect to racing it.
“The car uses an electronic reverse which reverses the engine rotation and the engine actually runs backwards when we back it up after a burnout,” Mitch surprisingly confirmed.
The team also employs some very trick exhaust that was specifically built for their motor by Jaws Performance (Manotick, Ontario).
Arnie Schwemmer, who is from Port Sydney Ontario is another racer involved in the cause. Schwemmer, who owns and operates Arnie’s Cat House (which specializes in Cat brand snowmobiles), has been running his snowmobile powered dragster for a number of seasons. His machine features a 1400 CC 300 HP 3-cylinder Thundercat-based 2-stroke motor.
“Originally the car was used as a platform for engine development but over time it just turned into my long term science project,” Schwemmer admitted. “The car gets a little faster each and every time we go out but it has always been a work in progress project. Even small changes have a learning curve to them.”
Schwemmer’s car features a 194” chassis by Mike Bos and tips the scales at 775 lbs with driver in it. Arnie too is a former asphalt sled racer and in fact he was the first Canadian to run sub 9-seconds riding one of those (back in 2004).
“Our best time in the dragster has been 8.59 secs at 149.7 mph,” Schwemmer added. “The car is deadly consistent but I’ve had issues with reaction times. So for 2012 I am going to introduce a new pneumatic launching device for the clutch that runs off a throttle stop. Hopefully that will improve things.”
Arnie Schwemmer's ultimate target is 8.90 racing with his ever evolving snowmobile-powered dragster
Schwemmer does run his car mostly for fun and can be seen occasionally at Grand Bend Motorplex and Cayuga each season. He did confirm however that his ultimate goal is to get the car running within the 8.90 category.
For racing fans out there looking for “something completely different” – a stop over at these racing pit areas is highly recommended.
(Bruce Biegler Photos)
