if your tyres lose grip in the wet it's called aquaplaning - well this morning I had the novel experience of turning the steering wheel on the motorway in high winds to find it made no difference to the direction I was travelling. Fortunately I had room to manouever to was able to lift off the throttle and on losing speed grip was restored. And no it's not a be-winged racing car just a bog standard Rover 214 with decent tyres.
Anyone else ever had this?
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 09/01/2008 at 14:56
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As an ex smart driver it was a common experience.
I remember driving across the M62 with the wheel turned into the wind, but still going ahead - it was like piloting a light aircraft!
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Strange, if the front tyres didn't have enough grip to turn, how was the car maintaining it's speed? There must have been enough grip to drive the car forward.
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I have had the back suddenly go light in a strong crosswind after passing a lorry. It seemed to "step out" a bit too - I assume because the loading had gone off the suspension.
Edited by Altea Ego on 09/01/2008 at 15:45
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I distinctly remember travelling up the A1 to Leeds in the early '80s in my signal orange Escort estate. It was incredibly windy and as I overtook a high-sided lorry and emerged out of its wind-shadow, I experieced a terrifying sensation of having the front of the car picked up and moved 6 inches to the side. Fortunately, the car didn't go out of control but the experience certainly shook me.
Edited by Waino on 09/01/2008 at 15:45
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A friend who used to have one said the Renault GTA had a frightening habit of climbing onto a wedge of air and losing its steering completely until it had slowed down. The cure was a properly designed aftermarket splitter (a sort of horizontal blade at the bottom of the chin spoiler).
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Many years ago I borrowed the firms van to move house, it was a high volume luton body on a Sherpa - it was quite windy and the elevated section of the M6 through Brum was terrifying - seemed to need almost full lock to avoid being blown across the hard shoulder into the parapet.
The effect of side winds is well known to caravanners, due to their large "sail area" but I know BRs don't discuss that.
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>>>caravanners
The swear filter must be broken!
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I remember some years ago (1997 ish), I was in an old MK2 (I think) Fiesta heading south and crossing the high bridge on the A21 just north of Tonbridge. It was a very wet, dark and windy evening. -
My car was blown from lane one to lane two and I was steering left at the time!
I still don't know how it didn't hit the barriers and as there was a gap between north and south lanes with a drop of several tens of meters, I was pleased that it didn't.
The expression "blew the wind up me" has a new meaning.
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It's even more fun in an empty lorry, and sudden crosswinds on motorbikes take the rider to new levels of sphincter tension!
My most unpleasant experience was actually when parked up on an industrial estate in the north-west. Wind got up overnight, my high-sided truck started rocking and I really thought I wqas going over. Not nice.
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You need to have driven a Hunslett Scootacar. It had a very high 'sail area' and twice compromised me. Once I put it on its side, and once I put it over a kerb and smashed a steering arm (because previously I'd put it on its side, and I didn't want that expense again).
Edited by bathtub tom on 09/01/2008 at 22:45
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You need to have driven a Hunslett Scootacar. >>
I just Googled it. Thanks for the suggestion but it's well down my list of "things to do before I die"!
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A few years ago in the A1 dual carriageway at Dunbar, lorry (atric + trailer) doing about 40mph in very high wind. Wind blew the whole unit on to the offside wheels. Audi that was overtaking me braked, and the two of us formed a barrier behind the truck (to prevent others overtaking) as the driver fought to regain control - which he miraculously did. His nearside wheels had been at least 3 feet off the ground. We all stopped at the next layby - never seen a truck driver so white - but boy was I impressed with his driving skills.
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Riding my Yamaha XJ600 across the Queen Elizabeth bridge in a gale was a terrifying experience. I was shaking afterwards.
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Not a new experience for Motorcyclists.......many many years ago defied a "bridge closed" sign on Britannia Bridge in Wales. Closed due to high winds - which is unusual apparently. Two of us (on separate bikes) decided that the best way to attack was to ride as quickly as possible
across it - very scary but fun.
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Anyone remember the Ford Corsair? It began to get airborne at around 70mph!
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i borrowed a lada 1300 back in 1985 and was in a rush to be somewhere and at 80mph the front would lift up and down in a severe pitching movement but if i lifted off a little it was fie
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Corsair? It began to get airborne at around 70mph!
Not the one I drove.
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snipquote, for the umpteenth time
lud, maybe he means the voight corsair?
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 10/01/2008 at 13:39
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My uncle had a Corsair in the late 1960's - you could actually see the front start to rise as you accelerated down the motorway.
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a Ford Corsair was the first car in which I saw 100mph on the speedo - driven by my uncle on the old road to South Queensferry.
btw my original post didn't refer to being blown sideways - it was downhill with high embankments on either side, the wind coming from dead ahead.
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Had an experience of driving down the same piece of autobahn in Germany twice in one week,both times in a 2.3 Capri but one had no spoilers and the second,just a small chin spoiler and the small bootlid spoiler-what a difference;thesecond one was so much more stable-particularly around a long LH sweep with slight adverse camber-this was at about 110 mph.in both cases.
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or even the Vought Corsair, two versions an US Navy propeller job for dive bombing in WW2 and a later cold-war carrier borne jet. Trivia: Some versions were powered by Rolls Royce engines.
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