Anyone know the details of Jason McVicar going down?

[tricktom1]

Just read it on sh.org, is he okay???

[nickelcityracing]

he is at the hospital and is ok...I am sure someone will fill in the details....

[mtkawboy]

What is SH.ORG, cant find it ?

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Okay -- I see there IS a topic about Jason's get-off.  I posted details elsewhere, but instead of making you go looking...

Nancy was next, right behind him, for a long course runm, when he left.  The bike started fine, he rode off going sharply to the right side of the course to get on good salt, and the bike sounded dandy as he went through the gears.  We spent a few moments getting Nancy suited up -- and heard Glen call out "We've got a rider down -- let's roll!"  We stood around for a while and were in pretty deep shock -- and Nancy chose to move over to the short course to make a run since the long course was on hold.

A while later a person pretty close to Jason's team called me to let me know some information (since the official policy is to not release anything at all 'til much better information is availalbe).  I heard that his rear tire let go at about the 3 1/2.  He went 236 in the quarter, so we can GUESS that he was doing 240 or more when the tire let go.  He (Jason) was seen by a bystander up there cartwheeling for a while -- off the bike, then maybe (MAYBE) he and the bike got close together again before once more going separate ways.  Anyway, the bike burned to the ground.  Jason was in the ambulance soon thereafter, moving arms and legs, helmet REMOVED, and was coherent and talking.

He was taken to the local medical facility and X-Rayed and Ultraviolated and released.  Last I heard he was in town looking for some trousers (I guess they had to cut the leathers off -- don't know why he didn't get pants out of the room) so he could return to the salt.

He had a bike in impound when he made the run-gone-bad -- don't know if he's in any condition to ride the return run on that bike tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, today will be the end of qualifying runs for SpeedWeek 2008.  Anyone in impound tonight will run the return run in the morning, then the meet will end.  We're forecasting leaving Wendover by late tomorrow afternoon, clean-up of the course completed.

Somebody - please feel free to cut-and-paste this to SH.org

[tricktom1]

thank you

[Seldom Seen Slim]

MT:

It's www.suzukihayabusa.org

Jon

[donpearsall]

Wow, that is pretty scary and I am glad that Jason's injuries seem to be minor. I was in impound next to him and Scott Guthrie most of the week and he is just the best of this sport in skill and personality.

Two years ago, my Shinko tire shredded at over 200 and at the end of the run there was little tread left. The funny(or not funny) thing was that I did not notice this until I was loading the bike on the trailer. That taught me never to use a new, un-heat treated tire. Jason and I discussed his tires and I looked at them closely. They looked fine and even in better shape than mine (233 mph on one run this week with lots of spinning).

Get well fast, Jason, and get back on the horse.

Don

[Larry Forstall]

Don: Your Shinko incident is an example of why we need communication so all racers know the best choices. The Shinko has long been known as a heavy soft tire only suitable for the short use of drag racing. I am surprised it was not caught by tech. The weight of its rubber causes severe centrifical loads and is why tire shaving is reccommended for LSR tires. Glad you were ok.

[ol38y]

Very glad he is ok.

Also, I have heard some talk of heat treating the tires but never heard exactley what is done. could someone explain.

Thanks, Larry

[DCarr511]

Very glad he is ok.

Also, I have heard some talk of heat treating the tires but never heard exactley what is done. could someone explain.

Thanks, Larry

I'm sure someone else will post about this, but at Maxton I seen the Bike guys using a " Tire Heater " kinda like a N20 Bottle heater, wraps around the tire and preheats it before they run. There might be something else or differant that they are doing to " Heat Treat " a tire ... if so I'm sure the correct response will get posted.

I'll also add that you would be shocked to see how many pieces of tire ( among other things ) are picked up off the course during a Course Sweep. I picked up quite a few chunks off the short course this year in 5 shifts ... more than I did in 11 shifts last year.

[maguromic]

DCarr11 is correct.  It sis done with tire heaters.  The idea is to bring up the heat in the tire carcass  evenly, to do it correctly you have to start the process about 45min before you run the tires.  The key is to have a proper controller to keep the temperature in all the tires that are being done even.  This is used by the top teams in most racing organizations as well as being used on dirt by sprint car teams.  There are a lot of cheap systems out their but they do not do a good job.  The good systems are very expensive and thats why they have been banned in some pro road racing classes. Their is a guy on the net that is selling all the F1 tire warmers from the Toyota team very cheap.

[mmcv]

is there a place where i can find video footage of this accident?

[tricktom1]

Chicken Hawk tire warmers

[donpearsall]

I am not a tire expert (as evidenced by my use of the Shinko one time), but the tire heat-treating that we are talking about here is more for conditioning the rubber and making it harder and stronger. The tire warmers you see at tracks are to make the tire softer before the race, which road racers and drag racers want.

You can condition a tire by doing burn outs, which actually does the same thing as shaving the tire, by leaving them out in the hot sun, or just riding it real hard on your street bike. The thing you want is prolonged high temps. Jason and some others have said that the best tires are the ones that road racers throw away. Those have been heat conditioned.

If anyone has anything to add to this, please do.

Hoping Jason is going to fully recover and get to El Mirage!

Don

[hotrod]

I think this will answer your questions about heat cycling a tire.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=66

A properly heat cycled tire will actually wear longer than a new tire and be more resistant to blistering etc.
Some racers do it themselves by taking a new tire, and doing some warm up laps, followed by some moderately hard laps and a couple max effort laps then come in and pull the tires off and and let them rest until the next race weekend.

Larry