The world of supercars and hypercars is dominated by a single solitary material: carbon fiber. A composite material, it's used throughout these sports cars' bodies, their suspensions, and are even used to build the chassis on which everything sits. Why? Because these materials are lightweight, strong as shit, and can be molded into whatever shape or form these companies need.
But carbon fiber, especially the type of carbon fiber that's used in the automotive world, is expensive to produce. You need large autoclaves, large printing machines, and all the base materials to make the carbon fiber itself, too. Hell, you should see the scale and production process for Christensen Arms' barrel wrapping on my rifle. It's a testament to just how intensive and large a production line you need even for something as simple as a number of carbon fiber sheets.
And so, there's good reason why the vast majority of automotive manufacturers haven't adopted the technology for normal everyday use. And there's even better reason for why the powersports world, outside of a few carbon fiber panels here and there, haven't adopted it either. Margins are smaller here, and you'd need a healthy investment in the infrastructure.
That, however, apparently isn't stopping Polaris from looking toward the future and patenting what appears to be the first carbon-fiber/composite-framed snowmobile. Take a look.
While scrolling the US Patent Office's latest and greatest, I came across a patent titled, "Straddle Vehicle Chassis with Composite Superstructure" from Polaris Industries. Give Polaris only has a few straddle-type vehicles—ATVs and snowmobiles, RIP Timbersleds—my interest was piqued, especially given the composite nature of it all. But the patent itself is way more interesting than the title lays out.
"A composite superstructure of a straddle-type vehicle, such as a snowmobile, formed from a fiber reinforced polymer and extending from a forward section coupled to a forward portion of a chassis of the vehicle to a rearward section coupled to a rearward portion of the chassis, where the superstructure defines at least one steering post mount configured to couple with a portion of a steering assembly of the vehicle," states the patent's abstract.
The description goes on to relay, "The present disclosure describes straddle-type recreational vehicles, including, but not limited to, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, personal watercraft, and two- or three-wheeled motorcycles, having one or more composite frame assemblies extending from a position forward of a steering system of the vehicle and either defining or coupled to frame members supporting at least one of an operator area, straddle seat of the vehicle, fuel tank, or tunnel. The described composite frame members facilitate manufacturing of the vehicle by reducing part count, assembly steps, assembly time, or combinations thereof. Additionally, compared to other frame members configurations, the described composite frame assemblies may reduce the total weight of the vehicle, reduce weight over the center of gravity of the vehicle, and stiffen the complete vehicle structure thereby providing for improved performance, handling, or both."
Now, a few things. First, as you can see in the patent drawings, what we have is a snowmobile that appears to sport a composite frame, i.e. carbon fiber. Snowmobiles are fairly heavy things, so any amount of weight reduction in the sled's chassis is going to pay dividends, especially for backcountry sleds that see further weight decreases compared to trail sleds. Second, swapping from an aluminum/metal track tunnel to one made of carbon fiber or some other composite could be an awesome advancement in reducing the track's heat when you have to hit ice or hard-pack snow, as carbon fiber doesn't tend to heat up in the same way as metal does. In fact, it's far better at heat dissipation.
Lastly, it's interesting that Polaris mentions PWCs and motorcycles, as the company doesn't manufacture either. Are those coming?
As for when we'll see this technology on a real, production snowmobile, that's anyone's guess. But the fact that this patent exists tells me that we might see it pretty soon, and that Polaris is investing in its future, as well as the future of its snowmobiles in far wilder ways than we could've ever imagined. I can't wait to see this in the flesh.
