Motorcycle tire rule change

[racergeo]

  I'm looking right at my tire. Dragon Super Corsa Pro.  Made in Germany 110-70 ZR17  54w.

[1212FBGS]

no tire manufacturer will give you a letter stating their tire is approved for 200mph or better.... don't waist your time or stir up that hornets nest.... just look for a tire that's approved for "racing"
Kent

[nrhs sales]

If the powers that be think they have legal issues now just wait until somebody crashes with a soft compound road "racing" tire.   As somebody else said I truly believe this is the  beginning of the end for bikes at BNI events.

I find it really interesting that Jasons crash was used as an example yet Jason himself denies that it was the tire that was at fault.  Things that make you go "hmmmm?"  Why was Jason not consulted on this matter? 

[Dr. Spin]

It seems that some clarifications may be in order after following the comments in this post.  First of all the SCTA/BNI Technical committee(s) can and are formed in an ad hoc fashion to assemble the most knowledgeable persons available both in and out of our racing organization. Many of the “directed” committees such as the one formed to investigate if the much higher speeds that we were now seeing at other LSR venues coupled with some of the tire failures we had observed recently might affect the safety of our riders; involve manufactures, safety and testing organizations. The committee was charged with INVESTIGATING AND INFORMATION GATHERING and only after this process was completed and the information distilled did the results dictates an adjustment to the rules to keep pace with advances in speed and tire construction technology. This is a very time consuming process and is not taken lightly by any of the willing or unwilling participants (those who donate their time without recognition). The tires mentioned in the previous post to which I was a party in the testing are part of the “racing tire” group that the new rule indicates are required above 200mph up to 265mph and are widely available. As for racing tire “approval” the association does not make “blanket” approvals…. We observe tires that we are unfamiliar with and make determinations on a case by case basis. I know that this sounds/feels unfair however there are many of you out there such as the gentlemen that posted before this that have been part of that process in the past that can attest to the validity of the practice. The association will be gathering more information at the Bonneville events and encourage your participation and input.

Oh by the way my e-mail address is incorrct in case you had tried to contact me.... correct is :
lee.kennedy@avmetrics.net

However you should contact my counterpart Van Butler as he is the Technical Chair on the motorcycle side..

Go fast and be safe!!!
Lee Kennedy

[Milwaukee Midget]

no tire manufacturer will give you a letter stating their tire is approved for 200mph or better....

Kent

Especially Land Speed Racing.  Be it bikes or cars, we are the pariahs of the racing community when it comes to tires. 

[landracing]

Ed Maybry figured this out over twenty years ago. He put car racing tires on his triple triumph bikes and John Minnano went over 250mph.  As far as I know the bikes did not have any sideways or handling issues. I know this does not solve the problem of fitting tires on production motorcycle frames but it has been done and worked well.

John Minnono told me it was some of the worst handling experiences were on those car tires on that triumph.

JA

[landracing]

I don't think anybody is asking for a tire recommendation. what they are asking for is a list of tires that will be aproved by the SCTA to run. IOW; What constitutes a "race tire"? Otherwise folks might end up shelling out hundreds of dollars for tires only to find out they are not right once they get to an event.

Umm pretty much been said as before, contact a tire rep.... Do the research, can't have everything handed on a silver platter.
Find the tire thru a tire rep and then ask the scta if it will be ok, as well as why you selected the tire.
JA

[Jasontmc]

NHRS,

I was asked to be on the motorcycle advisory board prior to my accident. I submitted my recommendations for the tire issue and this rule change was a bit of a surprise to me. One of the big issues with "race/LSR" tires is that no one has any experience running them. John M, Wink and Mike Geokan have run them but I'm not sure if they we asked for their input.

My thoughts were that it comes down to the devil you know. We could be walking down a slippery slope with "new" tire choices.

My yellow bike ran the same rear tire from 2005 until 2009.  It was a street tire that was heat cycled and run at the wear bar. The only time I have had tire issues were with new tires and the one on my crashed bike.

I guess of we want to play we need to get a new set of tires or head over to Bub's.


Jason.

[donpearsall]

Lee Kennedy, you cited that you had observed tire failures. Can you give some examples? I only know of one, and that is Jason's which has been cited here as a result of debris on the course. Anybody else know of tire failures?
Like a lot of riders have mentioned here, I am not clear if there has been any testing of racing tires to take the fast, hot, heavy sustained speeds of Bonneville. On the other hand, the tires in use now have proven theirselves to be safe. The tire that Nate Jones sold me as the BEST tire for my bike at Bonneville is a shaved Bridgestone Batlax ZR rated sport tire. It is not a racing tire but has proven itself over 20 runs way above 200 mph at 600+ pounds. I want to see the results of a racing tire that has done that. So far in 3 days of all the discussions, no one has offered 1 tire that SCTA will accept that has proven itself as safe as the one I use now. If someone can do that, I will buy one tomorrow.
Don
 

[fredvance]

I talked to Nate Jones yesterday. He is going to fix me up with some slicks. When he calls today I will get make, model, etc, and check with Van or Tom and get approval.

I am not going to let something like a set of tires drive me to Bub. I like SCTA!!

  Fred

[nrhs sales]

Don,
We run the same shaved Bstone tires on our bikes and have never had an issue either.

Jason,
I read you loud and clear!! See you at Bubs?

[bak189]

Does anyone know if there enough rubber on roadracing tires for shaving???

[nrhs sales]

Bak,
Nice to see you are living up to your signature line!! 

[nrhs sales]

So can the powers that be tell us if the Metzler Racetec Interact tire in the K3 (hard) compound would be a legal tire under the new rule?  It has a 73W load/speed rating

[John Noonan]

Is it a race compound tire and does not have the ZR rating?