Nothing to do with hydroplaning, but last night, after everyone else (almost) had left, the Ack Attack motorcycle streamliner (photo attached) made a "low speed" pass without the body skins.
This is what Jon Wennerberg posted on landracing.com:"The Ack team took the bike out, without any body panels, for some low-speed (50-100 mph) testing, including the traction control system. The motors were running for the tests. We had left -- so I heard this from Mike Cook, didn't see it myself.
The bike was running and the traction control stuttered (best way Cook described it) and then the rear (drive) wheel went up to speed. The hit, he reports, was similar to the hit when a 2-stroke motor comes on the pipe -- chug-chug-chug- kablamm!! The rear wheel spun and kicked the bike sideways -- and the bike then pencil rolled about a dozen times.
Rocky (rider/driver) wasn't seriously hurt - in fact, he called Tricia (his wife) and talked with her then she went out to the salt to meet with him and the rest of the crew, and then Rocky and Tricia rode in an ambulance to a hospital in SLC for observation. He's not seriously injured -- but hurts here and there and every danged place. They'll check him over, under, around and through.
The bike may or may not be repairable in time to run again at this meet. As I mentioned, the body panels weren't on it, so while they're okay -- the exposed parts may have been damaged or scrubbed into the surface of the track. We won't know about it 'til morning - at the earliest. For that matter -- we won't know Rocky's condition 'til then, either."
More news as I get it. r Quoting humminboid@xxxxxxxxxxx:
Mechanics sure look different than when I was young and bulletproof! Got my attentiion, for sure. Hydroplaning must be a real probl em, w ith c onditions like that on the salt.rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx To: ratpack@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Monday, September 19, 2011 8:59:50 PM Subject: [ratpack] Day 1 at the Shootout First day of the Mike Cook Top Speed Shootout. The course is pretty bad. There was a lotta rain on the last day of World of Speed and there was a ton of runoff that ended on the salt in puddles, pools and rivers. The salt had been pretty hard up til then, but the water did a number on it.
Attachment:
20110919_032r8.jpg
Description: JPEG image
