Aussie designed and built SDC Trak 903  is an amazing achievement by Les Cooke and his team @ the Sea-Doo Centre in Melbourne. Straight off the showroom floor with 110hp Rotax 900 Ace engine, custom hull, spark pump and quality components throughout, this ski has all the thrills and performance of a race ski in a turn key reliable package. At 60kg’s lighter than the original 4-stroke Hydrospace, this translates to a massive improvement in power to weight and its apparent as soon as you get on the power. You learn very quickly to treat this beast with some respect as I’m soon cartwheeling on the water after pulling the trigger and coming unstuck at speed and with this baby there’s no hanging on to the bars……its a big lonely swim, lesson learned. It does take a different approach and I was making mistakes aplenty in my first session getting spat off at least 4 or 5 times before calling it quits and letting my brain try and rewire how to ride this beast. Second session was a LOT better and as Newcastle Jet Ski Centre boss Mark Perlowski said ‘slower is faster’ which kind of doesn’t make sense but does in that you eventually realise that the ski rides very flat, encouraging you to stay very low in the tray with the pole almost horizontal and lean out of the tray for turns MotoGP style and be very deliberate in easing throttle application as the engine is so responsive so you don’t feel like you are going as fast as you are. Chopping the throttle at speed for me was unerving as the ski hunts around as the weight transfers to the front, you eventually realise that it performs so much better under power so the technique is again something that takes time to perfect so that sweeping turns under power rather than complete power down is the go. Thats not to say this ski is no good at point and shoot, it can be leaned at lower speeds and its thrilling to hit the power and drive out of a turn faster and harder than ever while still cranked over. It’s a hell of a lot of fun to ride, acceleration is instant and very addictive and of course learning to ride it to get the best out of it is a huge part of the appeal of standups, so I loved it – full stop. The fact that you can get this level of performance from the stock Spark engine setup is incredible and of course there’s plenty more to give if you want it – the turbo version of the SDC Trak in the hands of GP ace Kevin Reiterer is close to 200hp !

Much better though to have all the thrills and performance of a thoroughbred race ski in a turnkey reliable normally aspirated package that can be ridden by rec and race enthusiasts alike.

All in all a brilliant effort from the Sea-Doo Centre in producing a world class product that has taken performance standups to a whole new level.

Thanks to Mark Perlowski and Newcastle Jet Ski Centre @ Warners Bay for organising the demo/ride day and to current Aussie Pro Ski #2 Michael Stevens for showing us how its meant to be ridden so I could get some pics and to Mark Glew for his input and piloting the STX-15F so I could get some on water gopro footage.

More info from Matt Daley Australian Distributor Jetsport Qld – 07 5531 3855