Q 01/05

Which name for a snowmobile is heard chiefly in Alaska, home of the sport's longest race?

A) Skimobile

B) Snowmachine

C) Motor sled

D) Snow scooter

Answer · why

B) Snowmachine

Snowmachine is the everyday word in Alaska, while many Canadians say ski-doo whatever the brand, and riders almost everywhere shorten the name to sled...

Q 02/05

Ski-Doo snowmobiles were meant to be called Ski-Dog until what changed the name for good?

A) A trademark dispute

B) A customer contest

C) A spelling mistake

D) A French translation

Answer · why

C) A spelling mistake

A spelling mistake turned Ski-Dog into Ski-Doo, and the inventor kept the slip because he thought it sounded appealing and would be simple to trademar...

Q 03/05

Which Quebec inventor of the Ski-Doo founded a company later famous for trains and business jets?

A) J.-A. Bombardier

B) Laurent Beaudoin

C) Pierre Péladeau

D) Armand Frappier

Answer · why

A) J.-A. Bombardier

J.-A. Bombardier built his first snow vehicle at 15, and his resolve hardened after his two-year-old son died when a blizzard kept the family from rea...

Q 04/05

Virgil White trademarked the word 'snowmobile' for a kit of tracks and skis that converted which car?

A) Volkswagen Beetle

B) Willys Jeep

C) Citroën 2CV

D) Ford Model T

Answer · why

D) Ford Model T

Ford Model T owners could buy the kit only through Ford dealerships from 1922, and cars converted this way became a favourite for rural mail delivery.

Q 05/05

Ralph Plaisted's 1968 expedition rode Ski-Doo snowmobiles on the first undisputed surface journey to which place?

A) The South Pole

B) The North Pole

C) The Bering Strait

D) Greenland's ice cap

Answer · why

B) The North Pole

The North Pole fell to a Minnesota insurance salesman: Plaisted's team spent 43 days on the Arctic ice before an Air Force plane overhead confirmed th...