Unleash Your Snowmobile's Power with Nitrous Oxide Drag Racing

The Power of Nitrous Oxide in Snowmobile Racing

Nitrous oxide, more commonly known as "nitro", has become an integral part of high-performance snowmobile racing. When injected into an engine, nitrous oxide provides an extra boost of horsepower, allowing sleds to reach incredible speeds down the race track.

What is Nitrous Oxide?

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is made up of two nitrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom. When heated to a high temperature, the extra oxygen atom can help fuel burn more efficiently. This release of oxygen gives a significant horsepower increase to the engine.

In drag racing snowmobiles, riders use a nitrous system that injects N2O directly into the engine's air intake. This allows more fuel to be burned, releasing greater energy and increasing horsepower output.

Nitrous Systems for Snowmobiles

A basic nitrous system consists of a nitrous tank, lines, solenooid, a throttle activation switch, and a plate or nozzle mounted in the air intake. Riders can toggle the nitrous system on and off via a handlebar-mounted button.

When the button is pressed, the solenoid opens, allowing pressurized liquid nitrous oxide to flow from the tank. As it travels through the lines, the nitrous changes from liquid to gas. The nitrous gas mixes with incoming air in the engine's intake tract right before the combustion chambers.

Power Increases from Nitrous Oxide

By injecting nitrous oxide into the air intake, engine power output can be increased by 35% to 65%. This turns a stock 800cc snowmobile into a 1000+cc rocket ship!

The extra oxygen provided by the nitrous allows more fuel to undergo combustion. Tuned nitrous systems can produce over 300 horsepower in certain high-performance sleds. This enables them to reach speeds over 200 mph on long enough tracks.

Using Nitrous Oxide for Drag Racing

The promise of massive power gains makes nitrous oxide an essential tech for hardcore snowmobile drag racers. On short quarter mile tracks, nitrous allows sleds to launch harder off the line and accelerate much quicker.

Bracket Racing Advantages

In bracket racing competitions, riders aim to come as close as possible to preset elapsed time (ET) targets. A rider who goes too fast is disqualified. This is where nitrous really shines.

By using the nitrous system conservatively, riders can fine tune their ET right up near the bracket maximum. If conditions change during a passing run, just activate a little nitrous to pick up exactly the amount of speed needed.

Maximizing Track Grip

Even with sky-high power, a sled's acceleration is limited by available traction. Excess wheelspin just leads to lost time.

Nitrous allows riders launch harder while still hooking up. The quick power hit puts the sled near peak speed before traction starts slipping. This minimizes spinning while making the most of the track's grip.

Considerations When Running Nitrous Oxide

While nitrous oxide offers temptation with its insane power gains, it also places more stress on engine components. Riders must set up their sleds properly to handle the extra output.

Engine Reinforcement

The factory engine assembly in most snowmobiles cannot reliably handle double the horsepower. To fix this, many riders upgrade internal engine parts to race-duty items.

Forged aluminum pistons, high strength connecting rods, and multi-layer steel head gaskets help hold up to the nitrous-fueled abuse. Studded cylinder heads, thick base gaskets, and stronger crankshafts also help engines survive.

Fuel Delivery Upgrades

Dumping in more nitrous oxide leads to burning more fuel. So fuel injectors and fuel pumps get upgraded to supply the extra gas needed. Sometimes the stock fuel tank gets swapped for a larger aftermarket one as well.

Precision Tuning

To make usable power from injected nitrous oxide, the engine management system has to add the right amount of extra fuel. This requires meticulously mapping out fuel and timing maps for nitrous engagement points.

Aftermarket engine computers combined with manual tweaking sessions on the dyno let tuners tailor the motor for safe and optimal nitrous usage.

Pushing Snowmobiles to the Limit with Nitrous

Ever since its discovery, innovative racers have used nitrous oxide to push engines to new heights. This holds true today, with nitrous-assisted snowmobiles still shattering speed records.

While making obscene power figures, a properly set up nitrous snowmobile still maintains reliability. This combination of outrageous output and functionality cements nitro as an essential trick for hardcore sled enthusiasts.

FAQs

How much horsepower can nitrous oxide add to a snowmobile engine?

Nitrous oxide can safely add an extra 35% to 65% more horsepower when tuned properly. So a stock 800cc sled making 160 HP can jump up to 240-260 HP on nitrous.

What upgrades are recommended when running nitrous oxide?

Reinforced internal engine components like forged pistons and connecting rods, studded cylinder heads, heavier crankshafts, and multi-layer steel gaskets help reliability. Fuel system upgrades like bigger injectors and fuel pumps are also advised.

How does nitrous help in bracket racing?

Nitrous gives very precise ET control to hit bracket targets. If a pass is running too quick, just activate some nitrous to pick up exactly the needed mph.

Why does nitrous work better for drag racing than trail riding?

The power hit of nitrous oxide is very abrupt versus gradual. This makes it harder to control during casual trail riding. But for short full-throttle passes, nitrous gives excellent acceleration.

Is nitrous legal for snowmobile competition?

Nitrous is allowed in certain drag racing classes and land speed record attempts. But most other sanctioned racing bodies prohibit nitrous use, as it's considered an unfair power add-on versus stock motors.