Date:         Tue, 28 May 1996 15:26:54 +0200
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Ian Corner <ianco@ida.liu.se>
Subject:      Re: losing traction/planing

>>>ObVW: Has anyone ever done any hydroplaning in a bus?  Somehow I'm
>>>glad I've never had that experience.  A bit of purposeful fishtailing
>>>on wet pavement certainly, but no hydroplaning.  Knock on wood.

>>Yup, lots, thanks to heavy trucks pressing the highways down into water
>>filled dips/ruts.  In a bus the first indication is that the steering gets
>>very light, try to resist the temptation to turn the wheel to see what's
>>wrong =:O.  Then the speedo drops to zero, once the left tire has stopped
>>rotating and is just waterskiiing.  If both wheels are waterborne you have
>>no control, sidewinds and transports are deadly.  Let off the gas peddle,
>>the wheels will sink and start to spin again.  Apply more gas and lift them
>>to check out what just happened :). Nasty things happen when you reach the
>>end of a water filled rut with the wheels planing.  The sudden grab of
>>pavement on the stationary tires really yanks on the steering wheel, be
>>ready for it if one side hits dry land before the other. I've planed a '71
>>Wesy often in the above conditions, never a vanagon.  I have planed a
>>vanagon in slushy snow while passing, got sideways in that one. Never
>>again. Tim

> Thats what I like about my syncro,  it is almost impossable to hydroplane.
> Although any vehicle will hydroplane given the right conditions. ie bald
> tires, large amounts of water, high speeds.

Interesting. I have a couple of experiences to tell of, one in my VW camper the other in a 
"much safer" modern car. Oh and a brief tip at the end for "slush" driving.

On a trip around Europe, I had been driving most of the time, so I let my cousin take the 
wheel for a while. Having had know problems for the two weeks we were on the road, I thought 
why not... bad move! Coming back from the hot South of France, I got just past Paris and a 
torrential downpoor hit. The rain was so heavy that the windscreen wipers were useless, 
almost like we were driving underwater. 

The noise woke me up, as I was asleep in the passenger seat. He kept saying that the 
steering was a bit strange, but I didn't really take much notice. Then the road "gently" 
started to move to the right... i started to take notice =:O. No it was us moving to the 
left!! Strange feeling he wasn't steering... the van was though! Then it gripped! Oh shit!! 
I don't know how we managed to get it straight, I'm sure the van did it and not my cousin. 
Talk about a pendulum ride. 

You should have seen his face though, makes me laugh even now :) He pulled into the next 
station and complained of feeling a bit tired and would I take over... gladly I thought! 
Anyway got back in one piece, apart from the petrol cap that he forgot to put on! Oh and my 
other cousin, in the back, he didn't even wake up!

However, even with the latest modern technology you can still run into trouble! I live in 
Sweden now. A place where snow and ice "seems" to be here most of the year round (a lot more 
than England anyway... trying to be diplomatic). In my novice days, when I arrived, I had an 
introduction to "slush" driving... the hard way.

I had a new Peugeot 405mi16x4. Yep, 4 wheel drive, ABS, wide low profile tyres, power 
steered, 1.9ltr, 16v beauty. The first snows of the year hit as I was driving on a main 
highway through the middle of Sweden. All trafic was down to about 50km/h. I was in a line 
of cars when all of a sudden I noticed the car drifting to the left, "real slow" at first. 
Then just as if a big finger had flicked the car =:O I went into a spin, "real fast". Then 
the wheels gripped as I went onto the other side of the road... only I was going backwards 
and at an angle! Luckily there was nothing coming, hence I'm typing this!! 

I looked over my right shoulder and saw this ditch coming up "bloody fast" and by the time I 
faced forward... SLAM! The back of the car hit the ditch. As the angle of approach was about 
30/40 degrees the car jumped up in the air and span so as to land front on in the ditch. 
Unbelievably the ditch was so soft that the front of the car was undamaged. The rear... lets 
just say it wasn't so lucky.

I sat there for a second, you sort of wait to see if any part of your body is rushing to 
tell you... PAIN! Fortunately not. Then one of the people behind, who must have had a great 
view and who probably will never drive over 30km/h again, opened my door. I looked at him 
and calmly said "well that was different". You could read in his eyes that he was thinking 
"strange these foreigners" (or worse to that effect). When I surveyed the area of where I 
had crashed I was even luckier, a few meters either side and I would have hit a rather heavy 
fence or a bus shelter!

One last thing. When I filled in the insurance form, I can remember one of the questions 
being "at the time of the accident, did the driver say anything". I did when looking over my 
shoulder at the 'come and get it' ditch, and quoted "OH SHIT!!!". I don't know if that's 
what they were looking for but its best to be honest ;)

Anyway if you've read this far, here's a tip. I'm now back to the slow vw van I had in 
Paris. It has narrow tyres that cut through the slush rather than the wide low profiles that 
simply surf on top. I was told this by someone after the event and that reasured me know 
end... it wasn't my fault after all! ;)

All the best,
Ian
___________________________________________________

Ian Corner, MDA Group, Linkoping University, Sweden

tel: +46 (0)13 281973         
fax: +46 (0)13 142231

net e-mail: ianco@ida.liu.se
compuserve: 100420,1572
home  page: http://www.ida.liu.se/~ianco/
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