| PICTURE
VEHICLES UNLIMITED INVITES ANYONE TO REGISTER VEHICLES, AND YOU EVEN HAVE A BRAND-NEW SITE
ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB. HOW DOES THE REGISTRATION PROCESS WORK? “We have clients around the world, from Turkey to
Chile and from Canada to Mexico, who often come to America to film their projects. The
idea for us is to put a nationwide registry of vehicles on the Internet so a client in
London, for example, can quickly download a picture and description of a vehicle. The
registration fee is $20, but that’s just to cover administrative costs of putting the
information and picture on our website.”
YOU'VE DRIVEN NEARLY EVERY TYPE OF
MOTORIZED VEHICLE. HOW IMPORTANT ARE TIRES?
“Tires have many different applications. In
stunt work, you have to be able to slide and spin and still have a lot of control, and on
a semi-truck there’s nothing better than a worn-out set of recaps snow tires for
sliding around.
“In racing, there’s a lot on the line
at very high speeds. Tires are the only contact with the ground, so to me they’re
critically important. I’m very finicky about tires because my buddies and I have had
tires blow out and cause some pretty horrendous accidents.
“The problem we have with racing on truck
tires is that the tires are designed for owner-operators and fleets that want traction,
durability, reliability and long life – typically, that means a hard compound. In
racing you want a sticky tire with a lot of bite.”
“Looking through the Bridgestone product
line, we found the R250s and M711s and got them at TCI in Colorado Springs. I don’t
know what would have worked any better except maybe a custom-made tire.”
OF ALL YOUR WORK FOR HOLLYWOOD,
DOES ONE STUNT STAND OUT IN YOUR MIND?
“This won’t be seen by the public, but
there was a pilot for Paramount Television called Fire Company 132. I took a conventional
Peterbilt pulling a fuel tank onto a pipe ramp – in essence an 11-foot high, 30-foot
long ramp of heavy tubing. The ramp was disguised by a UPS-sized truck that was partially
cut through so it would break away when I hit it. It also had a big, propane cannon in
there to make a fireball.
“I hit the ramp at about 50 mph, hooked the
rig on the ramp with one side of tires off the ramp to create a snap-roll, and went about
20 feet up in the air dragging this big fireball behind me. I flew about 72 feet and slid
about 180 feet. The whole rig wasn't much more than junk when we started, but it was
completely useless after that.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR YOU?
"A new feature starring Steven Seagal
called Fire Down Below is in theaters right now. He plays a federal marshal looking
for the killer of a murdered agent in the Appalachian mountains, and finds people dumping
hazardous waste into abandoned mine shafts. There are a lot of action scenes with
trucks, and in one I'm driving a coal truck trying to run Seagal and his pickup off the
road.
"I enjoy making movies, but I'm really
looking forward to racing up the mountain again next year."
Editors Note: Visit Mike Ryan on the
World Wide Web at picturevehicles.com |
For most of this century, drivers have raced all sorts of
vehicles against Mother Nature to be known as the fastest to climb Pike's Peak in
Colorado. The race, named the Pike's Peak Auto Hill Climb, is now an annual event in which
drivers race a 12.5 mile, 156-turn dirt track that climbs more than 5,000 feet – an
average grade of 8 percent.This year, Hollywood stunt man Mike Ryan took the challenge in
a modified Class 8 tractor and set a new record, crossing the finish line in 14 minutes,
40.65 seconds.Driving a vehicle where it isn’t meant to go is nothing new for Ryan,
whose company, Picture Vehicles Unlimited, supplies trucks, cars, boats and airplanes to
the film and television industry.Who else could make a truck fly? Whatever vehicle a
client needs, Mike Ryan can find it –and drive it–including this Peterbilt
tractor-tanker rig used in a commercial for French manufacturer Peugeot. 
