So ever since RideApart's Robbie Bacon came back from riding Sea-Doo's latest and great jet-skis, our Slack channel has been on fire talking about the modern marvel that is the company's frankly insane 1.6-liter three-cylinder supercharged Rotax motor. It's small, light, and have we mentioned that it pumps out a face-melting 325 horsepower?
Because it does.
And after our latest story on the engine—it won an Innovation award—a commenter sparked our discussions again. But this time, they got us thinking about what else should Sea-Doo's parent company, BRP, throw the engine into? Immediately, we had thoughts.
My initial thought was, "What are we doing here, Can-Am? Why are we being subjected to a mere 240 horsepower in the new Maverick R when there's over 300 horsepower in your parts bin?"
Imagine the desert you could cross on the Baja Peninsula with 325 horsepower on tap and the races you could beat Polaris at. Imagine the wheelies you could pull on pavement and the hooning potential. You gotta pump those numbers up. Those are rookie numbers.
But why stop there? What about a 325-horsepower Ski-Doo? Granted, if I got a snowmobile with that much horsepower I'd probably die instantly. But there are folks like Steve Martin (no relation to the Three Amigos star) who would likely be able to tame such insanity and do magical things with it.
There's also Can-Am's Ryker and Spyder, which would be a riot with 325 horsepower. You'd lose the rear wheel in about a tenth of a second, but it'd be the coolest tenth of a second of your life.
The only one I'd hesitate to swap this motor into would be Can-Am's ATVs. That might be a step too far even for me.
But what sort of swaps would you throw this motor in to? I think in a world full of Hayabusa and H2R swaps, this not only has more power, but could be far more interesting than the others. Maybe we need to get the guys at Grind Hard Plumbing Co. or the CBoys an engine or two?
Sound off in the comments below and let BRP know what it should drop this motor into next.
