FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP – Most Copper Country residents are enjoying the unseasonably warm weather this week, and dreaming spring might be here for keeps. Snowmobilers, though, are less excited about he slushy conditions, and that includes the future engineers competing in the ASE Clean Snowmobile Challenge at Michigan Tech’s Keweenaw Research Center.

Riders in Monday’s endurance ride from the KRC to Copper Harbor planned for rain, though things turned out dryer than forecast. On Thursday, there was dirt and grass visible just a few feet off the KRC test track, and mostly slush on the track.

“It mostly affects how they handle,” said Don Elzinga, one of the judges who actually gets to drive the sleds to compare subjective handling. Judges have to take that into account, he said, to avoid penalizing teams because of conditions that get sloppier as snow warms throughout the day.

For the engines – at least the traditional internal combustion engines – it wasn’t much of a problem.

“They’re all liquid cooled, and as long as they’re liquid cooled they do pretty good,” said Elzinga.

Michigan Tech’s electric sled is air cooled, however, said team member Ethan Weimken.

While team members were excited to be outside after three days in the garage working to pass safety inspection, the sled overheated repeatedly and struggled to make it around the test track.

“It affected us more than we expected,” said team member Anthony Rettig.

Weimke said the sled first overheated coming over from the draw bar pull, which puts a heavy load on the engine.

Rettig said Tech’s team had to install a scraper system on its sled’s skis, to prevent buildup of water and detritus that can heat up quickly.

Team member Paul Hanafin said Tech also had to replace its slides, which protect the machine’s rails from its tracks, after the slides melted on a course.