I used to supply the Skoda rally team with their radio equipment on the RAC Rally. They always won their class but one year it was deep snow and ice and they did really well. I remember one of the drivers pointing to a competitors car and saying "300HP crap" then patting his bonnet and saying "180HP - great". I might have the figures wrong but you get the point.

Was that back in the day with rear engine Skodas Ray

rayb wrote: Fri Nov 15, 2019 10:53 am I used to supply the Skoda rally team with their radio equipment on the RAC Rally. They always won their class but one year it was deep snow and ice and they did really well. I remember one of the drivers pointing to a competitors car and saying "300HP crap" then patting his bonnet and saying "180HP - great". I might have the figures wrong but you get the point.

Makes sense ray, light weight and low power. Still off topic..... I own a small 2017 Allgrip Suzuki Ignis and without tempting fate, I'm sure that its light weight and 90 bhp has helped drag me over snowplough-induced roads here on Dartmoor leaving all 2WD at the bottoms of the hills. I'm not sure what tyres came with it nor whether they have helped or not.

So, FWD has more traction than RWD - pulling rather than pushing the car?

Capt. R Swipe wrote: Fri Nov 15, 2019 1:06 pm

So, FWD has more traction than RWD - pulling rather than pushing the car?

I guess 4WD is better normally, but its all about the amount of traction you can get. Little cars with all the weight on the driving wheels and narrow tyres seem to do very well, but RWD cars - especially those with lots of power and wide tyres - with no weight on the driving wheels are utterly hopeless.
There again, I suspect that the skill and experience of the driver makes a huge difference!

This young lady changing to winter tyres she's a Swedish truck driver usually truck videos .


[bbvideo]. [/bbvideo]

Ah well, its different in Scandanavia....for one thing they get a lot of practice, and as its rather colder there its actually easier to drive there than in the UK. In the UK the temperature in snow is usually around 0C where there is both water and ice around which is incredibly slippery, and wet UK-style snow gets crushed into a slippery mass when driven on, whilst the colder it gets the drier and grippier the snow becomes! And they often used studded tyres as well. So whilst UK drivers aren't that good in the snow, driving on surfaces with zero grip using standard tyres is a pretty hard task! Far harder than driving on powdery snow with studded tyres.

The main issue as touched on by some already, is the almost total lack of skill amongst the general driving population with regard to driving in slippery and/or snow conditions. I love watching folks scream their engines and spin the drive drive wheels to try and get their cars moving again (that technique is only useful sometimes, mostly it isn't). They'll be at it for ages. Many a time I've gone over to a stuck driver and just politely mentioned not to do that and just to use very low engine revs and use the clutch gently to turn the drive wheels as slowly as possible to get the car moving. They soon cotton on and the car moves off with little drama.

A couple of years ago I was travelling in a car with a friend in the snow. He was driving. We ended up going too fast into a bend in a built up area. The car was sliding straight ahead with all the wheels fully locked and the steering turned to the right, car sliding down the camber also. He said "the brakes aren't working"!! We were headed for a brick wall. I shouted to "get off the brakes"! This instantly allowed the wheels to start turning and of course they instantly gripped enough to give control. The car shot off to the right and he was able to miss the wall and regain control. He didn't realise locked wheels don't steer or brake you.

MrGrumpy wrote: Thu Nov 14, 2019 7:43 pm

StephenC wrote: Thu Nov 14, 2019 4:34 pm [
4 Wheel drive isn't the answer: 2 wheel drive with the right boots fitted will be better than a 4x4 without winter tyres. All you get with all wheel drive is more traction but you ain't getting even that it if you have the wrong tyres for the conditions.

OK getting off topic here, but the best car I ever had in the snow was the original Fiat Panda (on standard tyres). I think that because every bit of weight was over the front tyres, traction was never a problem! And it probably didn't have enough power to spin its wheels.....

When staying in the Italian alps the favoured car was a 4 wheel drive panda with winter tyres and I had the experience of travelling with a local in one. Would not wish to repeat the experience but would have to say the car was secure and there were no moments, he didn’t hang about, including downhill with seemingly nothing to stop us going over the edge of the road in places. Back home one year a micro car got stuck in the bank outside our house, I suggested he turn off the traction control and it came out easy.

I sold a Red Panda 4x4 to a guy who was taking it to Italy.

The rangers use a Fiat Panda 4 x 4 to go up to the top of Mt Vesuvius Volcano.

In places the path is so steep you can't stand up because the surface is like mini ball bearings...

But the Panda whizzes up...