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There are limited scientific data available on the acceleration and braking performance of modern snowmobiles. In this study we investigated the acceleration and deceleration characteristics of four modern snowmobiles of varying engine size (500 to 1000 cc) and style (2-stroke and 4-stroke) on groomed/packed snow conditions. The acceleration tests were performed at quarter, half and full throttle. The deceleration tests were performed using full braking with locked tracks and rolldown with power both on and off. Target test speeds ranged from 20 to 60 km/h. Snow condition parameters were measured throughout the tests. The results of the acceleration tests showed that at higher speeds, higher horsepower rating generally corresponds to higher acceleration rates, with a maximum observed average acceleration of 0.70g.

PC-Crash simulations of staged collisions require dozens of parameters describing vehicle and impact parameters. The Collision Optimizer will vary initial speeds and impact parameters to obtain a best fit to a desired end state, but vehicle parameters are left unchanged. The present paper allows these other parameters to vary in thousands of combinations, re-optimizing the solution in each to find the relationships between the previously fixed parameters and the resulting impact speeds. The results show that tire friction and vehicle inertial properties have the most influence on impact speeds. Other parameters have little influence on the results.