Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials (BMST) 2014

TouringGodet

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The traction on the salt does vary quite a bit, due to the variance of the moisture content and other factors. The salt can be very good, you can see black stripes at the start line left behind from the takeoff of some vehicles. Ok, the ability of the salt to scrape some rubber off the tyres does not necessarily indicate that the traction is equal to tarmac, but I have heard long time salt flat racers say the salt surface can be almost as good as pavement.
 

redbloke1956

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I seem to remember Max or Big Sid saying that tuning for the altitude could make a huge difference (4219 feet), which apparently was an art in itself, and the temperature (up to 100 F)
Kev
 

davidd

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I seem to remember Max or Big Sid saying that tuning for the altitude could make a huge difference (4219 feet), which apparently was an art in itself, and the temperature (up to 100 F)
Kev

It is not specifically tuning for 4200 feet. You can tune for 4200 in the morning and then need to tune for 7800 feet in the afternoon. Depending upon when impound lets you do the return run the salt and the atmosphere can change dramatically. Stuart Hooper told me that he tuned for 4200 and by the time he left he told me that the mistake he made was that he should have been tuning for around 8000 feet to get to his maximum.

David
 

Bill Thomas

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So David, Was 183 mph not fast enough for Stuart ? Any faster and he would have gone into Orbit !! Cheers Bill.
 

davidd

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So David, Was 183 mph not fast enough for Stuart ? Any faster and he would have gone into Orbit !! Cheers Bill.

Bill,

Well apparently not! Actually, he came to Bonneville with the normally aspirated 700cc motor and did 146 mph, if I remember correctly. After the BUB meet, he went to Salt Lake City and did dyno work and then entered World Of Speed to get some more time on the track. I did not attend, but I checked the daily run logs. He was not having much luck, but in one run, which was aborted, he hit 160 mph before turning off. World Of Speed gives speeds throughout the course. It was after this that he said he needed to be tuning for 8,000 feet and that was what was throwing him.

David
 

Albervin

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The traction on the salt does vary quite a bit, due to the variance of the moisture content and other factors. The salt can be very good, you can see black stripes at the start line left behind from the takeoff of some vehicles. Ok, the ability of the salt to scrape some rubber off the tyres does not necessarily indicate that the traction is equal to tarmac, but I have heard long time salt flat racers say the salt surface can be almost as good as pavement.
If you crash on salt there is almost no difference to crashing on TarMac. Maybe less chance of infection as the salt sterilises the wounds.
 

davidd

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Rollie Free told me that he did fall off with only a bathing suit once. He did say that the salt cut you up and cauterized the wound all at the same time. When Dave Matson fell off at over 200 mph the salt riped through his leathers and packed salt underneath his kneecap. There were probably more injuries, but my hearing stopped functioning after I heard about the knee injury.

Both, very brave men!

David
 

nkt267

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When Dave Matson fell off at over 200 mph the salt riped through his leathers and packed salt underneath his kneecap. There were probably more injuries, but my hearing stopped functioning after I heard about the knee injury.
Makes you wonder if leathers should have a speed/surface rating..John
 
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