tyre valve failure

Yesterday I was at Silverstone having a great time. My friend Jamie was driving his first ever lap, nice and slowly when things went a bit pear shaped after Hangar Straight. Turned right at the end and then down the following short staright when I heard all kinds of bad noises. Parked up behind the barriers where I saw we had a flat rear drivers side tyre. Puncture was my first thought. So we had a look for it by rolling the car when I noticed air was leaking from the valve seal with the rim. When we got the car back to the paddock, the Michelin boys in their tyre truck put a new valve in and we were away for the rest of the day. Many thanks for their help.

But for a valve to come partly out the rim without any provocation? Most odd.

Anyone got similar experiences?

In the U.S. we have a sport called open road racing. Race organizers arange to have a very long strech of road closed off for a very high speed rally.

I have heard of a similar malfunction that happened in one of these races. The result was a 160mph crash (about 270kph) one car destroyed and luckily no serious injury.

Evidently the tire store used a new type of valve stem that was untested at high speed.

So next time ask the Michelin man what type of valve stems to use.