Thundercat

This article is about the Arctic Cat snowmobile. For the motorcycle, see Yamaha YZF600R. For the 1980s animated television series, see ThunderCats. For the musician, see Thundercat (musician).

Thundercat was originally the name of a series of snowmobiles produced by Arctic Cat from 1993 to 2002. In 2007, Arctic Cat re-introduced the name for a line of all-terrain vehicles.

Description

The Thundercat series has counterbalanced big-bore case-reed triple cylinder engines available in 900 (1993-1997) or 1000 (1998-2002) cc sizes, which produced up to 175 horsepower. The engines came factory with triple tuned pipes, 38mm Mikuni Carburetors (VM Roundslide 93-99, TM Flatslide 00-02) and forged pistons. The Thundercat has since been replaced by the ZR900 in 2003 and in 2007 was replaced by the F1000 as the companies top performing model. The Arctic Cat Thundercat is a two stroke three-cylinder snowmobile which shares similar engine and performance characteristics with the Arctic Cat ZRT 800, Polaris XCR 800, and the Skidoo Mach Z 800 of the 1990's to early 2000's era.

To this day, there are very few snowmobiles from any brand that can come close to the speed and performance of the Thundercat in stock form. The Thundercat set the NSSR 1000' stock class speed run record every year it was in production, a record that is still held by a 1998 Thundercat 1000 to this day, 120.1mph.

With minor trail oriented modifications, Thundercat and ZRT 800 snowmobiles can produce in excess of 200 horsepower and reach speeds of 130+ miles per hour, while maintaining ride ability and smooth low RPM performance.

Chassis used

Thundercat 900

• 1993-1995: AWS3 chassis
• 1996-1997: AWS4 chassis

Thundercat 1000

• 1998: AWS4 chassis, fastest year.
• 1999-2002: AWS5 chassis
• 2002 SS Suspension and Reverse were added

Name reuse

In July 2007, Arctic Cat revived the Thundercat name, affixing it to their new 950cc V-twin motivated ATV.