Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/592917
PWC New Sea-Doo engine reaches 300 hp o'fun 36 • November 9, 2015 • Powersports Business www.PowersportsBusiness.com Rotax 1630 ACE debuts in two performance PWC BY LIZ KEENER MANAGING EDITOR When BRP's Rotax engineers in Austria set out to develop a 300 horsepower engine, they didn't simply start with a previously produced engine and update it. Instead, they started from scratch, building the new Rotax 1630 ACE engine from the ground up. Every component went through careful consideration, making many features unique to this power plant. In fact, Martin Lachance, director of product development for Sea-Doo, said the list of new features is so long that he spent half an hour describing them to the Sea-Doo mar- keting team. ROTAX 1630 ACE The Rotax 1630 A C E , w h i c h powers the 2016 R X T - X 3 0 0 , RXP-X 300 and GTX Limited 300, has new cylinder heads, new intake and new exhaust. The compression chamber was changed to improve efficiency. The new pistons were reinforced to handle the addi- tional horsepower, and a new crankshaft was needed to handle the additional strokes. "The first thing you'll notice starting the engine is how smooth it is. There's no vibra- tion. It's much better than the 1.5-liter that we had in the past, so it's efficiency, but also, the results — you can feel it on the water on the machines just by starting the engine itself," Lachance said during a walkaround of the engine at a mid-September media launch in Nashville. In addition, the supercharger is all-new with 32 blades — twice as many as are featured in the Rotax 1503 — and a wheel that spins 8 percent faster. "The shape of the blades and the chan- nel around it have been optimized by com- puter design to offer 30 percent more boost," Lachance explained. Rotax also developed new ignition curves to efficiently match the increased air boost with the output of the larger fuel injectors, which drove the 15 percent increase in horsepower. "It has almost twice the ignition discharge, better spark to the compression chamber," Lachance said. Of course, those weren't the only improve- ments. Rotax also developed new plasma coat- ing technology for the aluminum block engine, which is a thermal spray- ing process that creates a metallic layer that provides a hard and durable surface to withstand piston fric- tion. And a much larger cooler offers 30 percent more cooling capacity. " T h a t ' s a b u n c h o f improvement all around t o m a k e s u r e t h a t w e have, again, reached the next level for Sea-Doo," Lachance said. TAKING IT FOR A SPIN W h i l e a l o o k a t t h e RXP-X 300 on shore and the engine walkaround piqued the interest of the media at the Sea-Doo event, all were excited to hop aboard the craft. As one consumer boat- ing journalist said to me, with the RXP-X 300, you can already be going 55 mph, hit the throttle and take off like a rocket. The speed and acceleration impressed even seasoned PWC riders. On top of the performance aspect, many also complemented the Sea-Doo staff on the ergo- nomics of the new units. The Ergolock seat that's available on all 2016 RXT models allows riders to hold on to the machine better with their legs. The full Ergolock system, which includes the seat, an Adjustable Ergonomic Steering (A.E.S.) handlebar and angled footwell wedges all add to the comfort of the RXT-X 300. This system, in conjunction with the new handlebar grips with palm rest, made the 300-hp RXT-X manageable for even my almost-5-foot-2 frame. And compliments were given on the sec- ond-generation iBR, which provides more responsive activation, reducing the stopping distance by nearly 160 feet sooner than decel- eration without braking. Not that any of us wanted to stop. Sea-Doo's media ride included a journey through a lock on the Cumberland River as well as a stop to peek at RIVA Racing's special edition 2016 RXP-X 350, which increases the horsepower using a redesigned aluminum RIVA/Wilson Billet Intake Manifold, a RIVA Power Filter Kit, a RIVA Cold Air Upgrade Kit PSB managing editor Liz Keener demoed the 2016 Sea-Doo RXT-X on the Cumberland River in Tennessee during a media event in mid-September. Passage through a lock on the Cumber- land River was part of the Sea-Doo media launch in Nashville in mid-September. Here, members of the Sea-Doo team wait for the water in the lock to rise. See Sea-Doo, Page 38 PHOTO BY RONNY MAC