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OMG SNO KAOS - pics or stories?


John F

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So, now that our allotted couple of days of winter are out of the way for another year, how was it for you lot?

 

Yesterday afternoon saw me sliding backwards, sideways and every which way in between in my Discovery down snow-covered sheet ice at the Ilkley end of the UCR lane that heads over Ilkley Moor towards Keighley... :oops:

 

We then headed towards Guiseley and saw loads of rear-wheel drive stuff struggling to gain any traction in what was admittedly some of the slippiest snow I've been out in for a long while. Massive tailback caused by a people carrier taxi, a Jaguar Sovereign and some random modern hatchback thing stuck in the middle of the road on a slight incline.

 

Over towards Halifax we spotted a red Toyota Corolla abandoned on a slippy downhill section with its n/s/f stuffed in a tree, followed by several cars stuck trying to get up the incline at the other side of the valley.

 

Then, finally managing to do the Ilkley UCR lane from the Keighley end, we found a Lexus RX400 abandoned with its nearside wheels stuck well in a ditch on the moor a mile or so from Ilkley. Then, heading back out of Ilkley, we followed a Peugeot taxi that gradually ran out of grip heading up Cowpasture Lane towards Cow & Calf rocks, luckily leaving enough room for us to get past. I only just had enough traction in the Disco to get up over the top to head back towards Baildon (3rd gear low box with diff lock engaged).

 

Today we went up into North Yorkshire, and had to wait at a convenient pub for a couple of hours for this to be HIABed off the road ahead:

 

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It turns out they were friends of the couple that ran the pub. Luckily, no Freelander occupants were harmed during the making of this accident.

 

We finished off the day with a revisit of the Ilkley UCR from the Ilkley end... I managed to get up it this time, the Lexus was still there. And weirdly, there was another abandoned Mk 5 Golf almost at the top on the Keighley side - what on earth possessed someone to try driving such an unsuitable car up a rutted track in such conditions is a mystery to me, but they'd have had a pretty long walk home if they didn't manage to get a lift back to civilisation.

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Bit dicey here in Kent.

Whacked some M&S tyres on the 405, no worries, had the snow plough follow me at one point, nowhere for him to pass...

Dragged a Mk5 Escrot off a roundabout he'd binned it into and snapped the lower arm.

Took a mate and his kids back to Epping Forest as his Audi TT 4WD was useless.

That was it.

If you can keep your head while all around you are losing their's etc :roll:

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That Freaklander (aren't they supposed to be AWD?)

 

They're all four wheel drive but front drive biased until otherwise required.

I'd guess on excessive speed, possibly combined with an emergency braking manouvre that went wrong.

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Had some snow, sleet and slush here in Trafford. Drove over to MM5's on Saturday and it was merely cold and wet.

 

In the bad weather I've managed fine with engine braking, lots of second gear and my Michelin Energy Savers, which are approximately 8000 times better than the Eagle F1s the car used to have. Hasn't half battered the fuel economy though.

Seen several BMWs and Mercs get stuck too. There's still some way to go before the all time record of a Q5 struggling to get up the owner's drive and showering the garage door in slush and snow, though.

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That Freaklander (aren't they supposed to be AWD?)

 

They're all four wheel drive but front drive biased until otherwise required.

I'd guess on excessive speed, possibly combined with an emergency braking manouvre that went wrong.

 

My guess is that they got too close to the wall on their left (whilst passing an oncoming vehicle?) & flipped it onto its side when their n/s/f wheel "climbed" the wall.

 

Although if they were in the snow at the side of the road I wouldn't rule out a tail-skid caused by their n/s/r tyre and/or dodgy camber adjustment...

 

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:roll:

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Snowed here in Brum on Saturday, though the snow didnt start to fall until the afternoon. I'd gone to buy some work trousers, just after the purchase the OMG SNO was starting to fall quite heavily, I got back home, parked car up and went indoors. By evening time, the whole road looked like a huge bag of cocaine had exploded.

 

Today most of the OMG SNO has melted away. Went down to Reading today and spotted a smattering of newish 3-series beemers by the side of the road, abandonned no doubt.

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I had to snigger yesterday. There's some bint who works near my Mrs who has a 59 plate 320d Coupe OMG M TEC INNIT and is under the impression that her shit does not stink.

 

Well there she was, trying to pull away from a krb on a slight incline, inside rear 19 inch M Tech Innit alloy spinning uselessly - and then the car slewed sideways and the wheel gripped - via it's outer rim, onto the kerb. I walked by with my Lidl carrier bag of booty, smiled and waved. 8)

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I was travelling down the A12 near Stratford when a Renault Kangoo van two cars ahead of me suddenly swerved one way then the other, and spun into the armco. The road did not appear to be icy and no one else was involved. The car in front of me just drove around him and drove off. I went to see if the occupants were ok, and there was a man and his little boy in the car - both visibly shaken up by the incident. Once I figured out that they were ok, I asked him if he wanted to drive on or call someone. The van wasn't badly damaged, so he said he would just drive on carefully. As his van was sideways on with its rear against the armco, I blocked off two lanes with my car and helped him get straight again. Once we made sure his lights were working, he went on his way.

 

Apart from him thanking me, all I got for my trouble was abuse and horn tooting from other motorists. Nobody else stopped.

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  • 8 years later...

Certainly no snow here, but you reminded me of the time I drove back from Eastbourne to Chelmsford after several days of heavy snow, think it was 2010. Most of the sensible/scared people had decided driving was not a good idea, but I needed to get home, so set off in the most suitable (only) vehicle, my Renault 5, lowered and fitted with 15" wheels and wide tyres. Light weight and lots of surface area is perfect for snow..?

Anyway I've never failed to get anywhere in any weather no matter what I was driving, so set off and carefully made my way along the A roads, eventually reaching the M25 which was effectively a single lane with vague humps either side where the central reservation and verge were buried. No drama, plodded along and finally got to my flat - and promptly got stuck driving into the car park...

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1/12/2010

I was going nowhere that day, only because the trains were off. They actually did well that winter, all things considered. I was lucky* enough to be able to walk to the station when I lived in this house in Polmont so didn't need to use the car.

No Corsa in the drive because my wife was stranded at her mum's in Cumbernauld which was thankfully 5 minutes walk from where she worked at the time.

Later that week the whole street went out sequentially moved around the street and dug everybody's car out, took most of a day.

The Vectra was a great car, sadly too much went wrong right when we were expecting my son and I needed something reliable. Had it been now I would have had it fixed in an instant.

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I'm looking forward to it this year as I won't be in the office, watching it come down knowing that 15 miles up the m40 it would be carnage! 

Out of all the cars I've had in the snow the nicest was my first blue zx. Foot down and it got through, I crawled up a hill doing about 80 on the clock at one point, waving a woman out of the way who was walking down the grassy verge I was aiming for to get some traction. 

406 was 2nd,even with hilariously worn front tyres it kept on plodding me home. 

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51 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

I'm looking forward to it this year as I won't be in the office, watching it come down knowing that 15 miles up the m40 it would be carnage! 

Out of all the cars I've had in the snow the nicest was my first blue zx. Foot down and it got through, I crawled up a hill doing about 80 on the clock at one point, waving a woman out of the way who was walking down the grassy verge I was aiming for to get some traction. 

406 was 2nd,even with hilariously worn front tyres it kept on plodding me home. 

Same here and my wife can walk to work if needed and a sledge to collect my son from school!

The best car I have ever driven in the snow was my MK1 Megane. I used to drive up a big hill to get to the train station and even in quite deep snow it was passing everybody else who appeared to get stuck, even in front wheel drive cars. I should have named it onslaught that day.

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This was the February 2018 'Beast from the east'. Notice the snow has even made it up my K11's exhaust.
Once all the neighbours got together and dug everyone out who wanted out that little car was GR11 in the snow, as most skinny-tyred old FWD hatchbacks are.

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1 hour ago, loserone said:

The route I took to drop the kids off at school this morning.  Only, the picture is older.

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The little white 205 is outstanding in snow, though you may want to paint the roof orange so you don't lose it in a small drift.

If we get lots of the fluffy stuff I'm going to wish I still had it - or had fixed the Dyane/Blingo - because I suspect the Lex-arse will be hilariously useless...!

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