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Didn't watch the whole thing but presumably the white coupe early on.
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The person that films those must have a lot of time in their hands.
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Seemed like some dodgy flashing blue lights on that Audi.....
Random question, do electric cars have air intakes?
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>> Random question, do electric cars have air intakes?
No, but the motor/transmissions will have some form of breathers to ensure pressure can be equalised.
Generally EVs can wade through very deep water without issue.
Battery packs will be waterproofed to IP67 level or thereabouts.
Last edited by: Lygonos on Sat 20 Feb 21 at 10:01
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I think it pays not to be too casual about driving through floods even if done sensibly. Gear cases have breathers and differentials tend take a bit of water in if repeatedly doused.
There's a road near here that floods to about 150-200mm and did so last month. Almost anything will get through with care, but there were at least 5 drowned cars winched on to a wagon according to my friends who live there. The one I saw was a very new BMW 1 series. There still seem to be people who genuinely think it's best to go as fast as possible.
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>>There still seem to be people who
>> genuinely think it's best to go as fast as >>possible.
Best chance of splashing the onlookers...
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Many years ago, I used to have to cross the Somerset levels to get to and from work. They can flood quite regularly in winter. You could sometimes only know where the road was by the marker posts at the edge, with the carriageway being submerged. Quite sphincter twitching when you knew that either side of the road was a deep, wide drainage ditch.
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>> where the road was by the marker posts at the edge, with the carriageway being
>> submerged. Quite sphincter twitching when you knew that either side of the road was a
>> deep, wide drainage ditch.
Try the fens on a frosty day, the ditches are wider, and deeper, every road has them, all are off camber, and you just know what marker posts are left wont stop you emulating troy tempest
Last edited by: Zero on Sat 20 Feb 21 at 16:39
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>Try the fens on a frosty day,..
If you're driving something with less cylinders than seats you're probably not going to get into too much trouble.
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>> >Try the fens on a frosty day,..
>>
>> If you're driving something with less cylinders than seats you're probably not going to get
>> into too much trouble.
Oh very good Kevin ! ;-)
Come to think, it would have been a Mk2 Golf Gti back then.
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>> There still seem to be people who genuinely think it's best to go as fast as possible.
>>
It's in the company car driver's handbook.
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Rufford ford regularly features as the annual number 1 location for the breakdown companies recovering "flooded" vehicles.
It's difficult to understand why really, as it is well signposted, obvious on approach, and often quite noticeably deep (it immediately receives the overflow of the mill dam if it is at all wet). It really isn't very deceiving.
It's a rat-run that saves at most a couple of minutes compared with the main drag round (not much more than half a mile extra) and the signposting doesn't naturally take you through the ford (though I suppose a satnav might). You're most likely to use it if you're a local, and thus be aware of the potential hazard, and even then, it isn't providing a route from A to B that is a natural one for any but a few anyway.
It does however, provide endless fun for the locals (you have to make your own entertainment round here), and yes, that is a viewing platform that has been built overlooking it.
For a large part of the year, the approach on both sides is blocked off with triangular "flood" road signs in the middle of the carriageway. They simply get dragged to the side of the road, along with the securing sandbag weights (and they can be seen so located in some of the video shots).
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And some evidence of playing to the audience :/
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"playing to" or "aiming at"? I know which I'd have been doing.
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>> It's difficult to understand why really, as it is well signposted, obvious on approach, and
>> often quite noticeably deep (it immediately receives the overflow of the mill dam if it
>> is at all wet). It really isn't very deceiving.
And it has a depth marker.
The Outlander is probably a bit more of a wader than the average hatchback etc but I absolutely avoid anything more than halfway up the wheel which is about 300mm. The claimed wading depth is 400mm but that is above the bottom of the doors. The possibility of wet carpets just isn't worth it when the benefit is avoiding the inconvenience of a detour.
Back in 1998 I had a Galaxy. That year there was extensive flooding in the east midlands. As it happened I and the family were travelling back from Yorkshire fairly late in the evening. I left the M1 at Crick I think. With hindsight that was a mistake but when there are traffic problems I am wary of being stuck on motorways.
I made a lot of detours that night and at one point we seemed to be more or less stuck unless we chanced a flooded bit of road under a railway bridge. I watched a couple of 4x4s go though and decided to risk it, the Galaxy actually having quite good ground clearance owing to its flat floor.
We got through and eventually arrived home at near midnight, a couple of hours after we originally expected. Some time later the electrics went crazy, the engine had to be stalled to stop it running, the windows, lights and central locking were all operating themselves. There was a compartment under the passenger seat with a box of tricks in it that was completely submerged. The (company-owned) vehicle was trailered away and I never saw it again. Lesson learned.
Last edited by: Manatee on Sun 21 Feb 21 at 10:48
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No fords locally but the Nene, albeit much improved by work over the last 30years, is prone to bursting its banks at various points. On the other hand acres of warehousing has popped up close to the floodplain in the same period.
Clay soil means that field runoff can easily flood other roads away from the river.
The first year we were here we had bad autumn floods. No access via the normal route into the village, secondary way passable with care where a brook was over the road. I stopped, watched and raised the BX's ride height to max. Bloke behind was impatient, hooted and then shot through at speed but made it. BX waded it just fine at walking pace but there was a van on the verge with its engine sounding like a bag of spanners.
I think the guy hoped it would 'dry out' and improve.
Floods and fords need care.
I'm sure I've posted before about Judge Jonathan Gammon but it bears repetition:
www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/oct/23/judge-drowned-drove-flooded-ford
He moved to the judiciary via an unusual route having previously been a departmental statistician. I didn't know him personally but a number of my colleagues did. We were hosting a mental health practitioners group in the office at the time the news broke; a lot of very upset people.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sun 21 Feb 21 at 11:22
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Is there some sort of fetish of people driving through floods, I never it was such a popular thing to sit and watch.
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oh come on, you cant deny its has some interest and entertainment value.
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Not particularly, but each to their own.
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If you want to know how to drive a Ford, then ask Ari Vatanen.
His black Escort was a sight to behold
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Hydrolocked Merc - Bromptonaut
