Epic fail, Don’t blindly follow your sat nav

[Rudski01]

Hardknott pass yesterday.

 

[Minxy]

Unless you witnessed it or spoke to someone about it who said otherwise I suspect he lost traction and rolled back rather than it being a sat nav fail as there's no way anyone would try to take the corner that tightly in a MH.

 

[Lenny HB]

A hire one of course, I think most of us on here would know not to tackle that road in a Motorhome.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

there's no way anyone would try to take the corner that tightly in a MH.

It's a hire vehicle, so unaware person at the wheel who ignored all the warning signage that road is unsuitable for anything other than car and "light vehicle" whatever a light vehicle is.

 

[Two on Tour]

Didn't take a wide enough swing around the outside of the corner, and took the racing line to cut the apex instead.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Boldly]

A hire one of course, I think most of us on here would know not to tackle that road in a Motorhome.

Tam would

 

[Rudski01]

He followed his sat nav over hardknott, if you carry on and pass all the warning signs then to me it’s a fail.
I know the lad who took the photos, unfortunately once committed it’s a difficult reverse back down the pass, front wheel drive on a wet day it was never going to end well

 

[Odd-no-more]

I came off a road in my work Ford Escort, it was a bend uphill in heavy rain I was going slowly looking for a turning and the wheels lost all traction. What's I did as soon as I let go of the brakes the van went backwards. I had to call for a recovery truck, he refused to get anywhere near my van incase the same thing got him, lucky he was able to rescue me using a winch.
I expect a MOHO would be even worse in the wet.

 

[olley]

Went up there years ago in a Sherpa van conversion, easy in a rear wheel drive van, I would think twice with front wheel in the wet.

 

[Ridgeway]

Easy that corner even with an 8m van

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Rudski01]

A few years ago now, but same corner

 

[Guigsy]

I've seen an estate car get stuck going up Hardknott in the dry. They had the seats down with a bit of stuff in the back. Stopped on a hairpin in a short steep section. With their weight and the cross camber, they were just lighting up a front wheel the moment they tried to move.

 

[Guigsy]

Also, it's a 7.4m van and a hire. I bet it's plated at 3.5t. I wonder how close to the limit it would be?

 

[EuroTrotters]

A hire one of course, I think most of us on here would know not to tackle that road in a Motorhome.

I don't see why not ?

 

[steve69]

It's fairly common knowledge that hardknot pass is possibly the worst road to take any vehicle over. Many a clutch has given up on that route.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[The Old Man]

Empty the garage.

Get 10 people in the front seat.

Sorted.

 

[Thornebt]

I would like to think that my Avtex Tourer Two sat nav which has my van weight and dimensions programmed in would send me on a different route.

I do wonder though if they cut the corner too sharp.

 

[Minxy]

If they ignored warning signs it's they who are at fault not the sat nav ... don't blame the sat nav!

 

[Minxy]

We've had a few occasions when loosing traction going uphill in the wet, when this happens you have to be very, very quick to control it as it goes backwards and keep it on the road, especially if the front wheels loose traction at different points so the vehicle is skewed too - if you're not good at reversing you're stuffed. Our Chuasson Flash 04 was a b*gger for this, FWD Ford, and we had to be careful with it at times, more so than any other MH/camper. Our most recent was in our Carthago in Ireland when we just couldn't get grip to get up so had to do a multi-point turn and go back ... it turned out that there should've been a sign on the road to advise against taking larger vehicles up it but we never saw it (and we always look!), I suspect it was hidden by some of the road working vehicles at the side.

I still say it rolled back as driving it up forwards they'd never have been able to get it into the position due to it being 'jammed' on the rear end, if not they could simply have rolled back and got themselves out of the situation.

 

[SpeedyDux]

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Flairy]

If you go to winterburg in Germany it’s a top platz with about 4 levels I foolishly went down 2 levels ,in the dry I had awful job getting out from there had to take a run at it then round a blind corner, you could smell the rubber for days.That’s front wheel drive and Michelin cp tyres.

 

[Guigsy]

I've just had a play with Google Maps, which obviously isn't large vehicle aware. It's pretty hard to get it to pick a route that uses Hardknott. Boot to Langdale, it's far faster to take the A roads than the direct pass, even though it's nearly three times further. So it's unlikely the satnav suggested the route.

 

[Guigsy]

If you go to winterburg in Germany it’s a top platz with about 4 levels I foolishly went down 2 levels ,in the dry I had awful job getting out from there had to take a run at it then round a blind corner, you could smell the rubber for days.That’s front wheel drive and Michelin cp tyres.

I've had Michelin CP tyres do a burnout trying to get up a dry concrete kerb (trying to turn around in a blocked street with parked cars). They are terrible for traction.

 

[poppycamper]

Reading all these replys with interest..
Lots of past threads saying FWD is the dogs bollocks with no traction issues and every bit as good as RWD..
Not so many in favour of FWD here!
P.S. you may have quessed I am a staunch RWD supporter and would never have a FWD motorhome.

Edit To add..... yep sure someone will say its the tyres.... not the driving wheels..

 

[Guigsy]

Reading all these replys with interest..
Lots of past threads saying FWD is the dogs bollocks with no traction issues and every bit as good as RWD..
Not so many in favour of FWD here!
P.S. you may have quessed I am a staunch RWD supporter and would never have a FWD motorhome.

Edit To add..... yep sure someone will say its the tyres.... not the driving wheels..

Pretty sure you could still get stuck if you were stupid enough to do this.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[tonyidle]

It's where the weight is and on any uphill it's towards the rear.

 

[tonyidle]

It's where the weight is and on any uphill it's towards the rear.

 

[Puddleduck]

Just glad it wasn't me ........

I have been on a well known hill on an A road near here in heavy snow which had fallen on ice. The truck in front of me skidded and ended up sideways on. No way for me to back down due to traffic behind me so I had to sit and wait.

The recovery vehicle managed to get the truck out of the way (an hour and lots of snow later) and the police asked if I was stuck "I'm not sure" I said, "but will give it a go". I was driving a front wheel drive Toyota Carolla with winter tyres and I was very slow and careful in pulling away - and got to the top of the hill with no issues. I breathed a big sigh of relief at the top I can tell you! I heard later from the recovery vehicle driver (who lives not far from me) that he pulled over a dozen vehicles out of ditches or from the ice on that hill that evening. The road was shut an hour after I got through.

 

[Minxy]

Reading all these replys with interest..
Lots of past threads saying FWD is the dogs bollocks with no traction issues and every bit as good as RWD..
Not so many in favour of FWD here!
P.S. you may have quessed I am a staunch RWD supporter and would never have a FWD motorhome.

You would seriously limit the choice of MH by doing that as most are FWD.

Edit To add..... yep sure someone will say its the tyres.... not the driving wheels..

Tyres do make a heck of a difference, we have Michelin CPs and they certainly aren't as good as the Vanco version.

 

[The Coops]

My mate fell off his Kawasaki Z1000 on the same bend just going slowly round it! It is a bit steep and camberish

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}