Is this really possible?

[Amara]

I got sent this email:


"I wonder how many people know about this?

A 36-year-old female had an accident several weeks ago and totalled
her car. A resident of Wollongong, NSW, she was travelling between Wollongong & Sydney. It was raining, though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydroplane and literally flew through the air. She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence!

When she explained to the policeman what had happened, he told her something that every driver should know - NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON. She had thought she was being cautious by setting the cruise control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain.

But the policeman told her that if the cruise control is on and your car begins to hydroplane -- when your tyres lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed and you take off like an airplane. She told the policeman that was exactly what had occurred.

The policeman estimated her car was actually travelling through the
air at 10 to 15 kms per hour faster than the speed set on the cruise control. The policeman said this warning should be listed, on the driver's seat sun-visor - NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR ICY, along with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to set the cruise control and drive a safe speed - but we don't tell them to use the cruise control only when the road is dry.

The only person the accident victim found, who knew this (besides the policeman), was a man who had had a similar accident, totalled hisn car and sustained severe injuries. If you send this to 15 people and only one of them doesn't know about this, then it was all worth it. You might have saved a life."


Not really an issue for me - I never use the cruise control... lol... never works for me so I just dont bother!! Besides the speed alert is all I need. Still I'd never heard that before.

 

[SiGh]

Its not real.
Lol at the letter tho.

I use cruise when it rains at times esp on highways

 

[Amara]

But hydroplaning is possible?

 

[S O F I]

But hydroplaning is possible?

Hydroplaning is common, but it's not properly used in the story. For example, your car doesn't fly, it just loses contact with the road and begins to slide from side to side and such. Think of Bambi on ice, for example.

I don't know about the whole "car accelerating due to cruise control" thing, though.

 

[tennis_dog]

yeah, hydroplaning is possible....the water basically becomes a solid surface like the road and you just glide on it...isnt that how wovercrafts work??? or some type of water vehicle?

 

[Duke]

^ Sofi's right. Hydroplaning is nothing more than losing grip due to a lot of water on the tarmac and the tires not being able to channel that water away. In essence, your car is resting on the water, not the tarmac.
However, it will not cause you to take off, lol. And neither will you accelerate if you have the cruise control on when shit hits the fan. You still need grip to accelerate, and grip is something you don't have. You'll most likely also be not going in a straight line.

Also, a car doesn't just "snap" away and goes off hydroplaning. You'd have to be pushing it. Driving in the soggin' wet is nothing different than driving in the bakin' dry, save for the fact that you need to remember there's a lot less grip to play with.

Third, when people hydroplane, or in other words, slide all over the place, they tend to hit the brake or clutch pedal (not that this is really a good thing to do when you find yourself in the situation, but it is what people do in a reaction moment). Most, if not any, cruise control systems are "reset" when you hit brake or clutch.

And lastly, in order for a car to "take off like an airplane" you need to go pretty damn fast. Faster than what most normal cars are capable of.

 

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Hydroplaning can be fun. I used to do that in my old Honda in high school.

 

[ARon]

How dumb, "take off like an airplane"

 

[dubk]

^ Sofi's right. Hydroplaning is nothing more than losing grip due to a lot of water on the tarmac and the tires not being able to channel that water away. In essence, your car is resting on the water, not the tarmac.
However, it will not cause you to take off, lol. And neither will you accelerate if you have the cruise control on when shit hits the fan. You still need grip to accelerate, and grip is something you don't have. You'll most likely also be not going in a straight line.

Also, a car doesn't just "snap" away and goes off hydroplaning. You'd have to be pushing it. Driving in the soggin' wet is nothing different than driving in the bakin' dry, save for the fact that you need to remember there's a lot less grip to play with.

Third, when people hydroplane, or in other words, slide all over the place, they tend to hit the brake or clutch pedal (not that this is really a good thing to do when you find yourself in the situation, but it is what people do in a reaction moment). Most, if not any, cruise control systems are "reset" when you hit brake or clutch.

And lastly, in order for a car to "take off like an airplane" you need to go pretty damn fast. Faster than what most normal cars are capable of.

excellent response...

I'd also mention that hitting the brakes once you are hydroplaning is not a good idea for the same reasons as why you shouldn't hit the breaks due to sliding on ice. (but that's somewhat going off on a tangent)

 

[AmerikazMost]

lmao impossible.. the shape of a car is not conducive to producing lift with the air

 

[Duke]

lmao impossible.. the shape of a car is not conducive to producing lift with the air

Not really indeed, but go fast enough and you will find yourself zooming off if your car hasn't got enough downforce. Doesn't happen often but it does happen. Le Mans is good for such occasions. You'll see them hurtling along the straight at 180+ MPH, a little bump in the road, a bit too much speed and the car hops in the air like a butterfly (and crashes rather unceremoniously 3 seconds later). The theory is the same as powerboats coming "off" the water, flipping and then falling to pieces.

But it's not something the daily driver will have to worry about.

 

[Rukas]

Its basically like dumping back into a lower gear while in the wet, you'll get a slight wheel spin and lose a bit of control.

The notion that her car flew through the air because of this is laughable, and any gain in speed is momentary and small, barely notable, because if you're cruise controlling at 60kph and lose traction the wheels dont stop, the engine just thinks you lost maybe 2kph of speed and adjusts.

The email is definitly bullshit, and the funniest thing is that people waste their time making this shit up.

__________________
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[Jibster]

Shocking roads in Australia.

 

[Duke]

Its basically like dumping back into a lower gear while in the wet, you'll get a slight wheel spin and lose a bit of control.

How the hell are you gonna get wheelspin on a downshift? Even if you're in the wet, unless you happen to either:

- drive a seriously seriously seriously powerful car
- torture your clutch

?

 

[Rukas]

How the hell are you gonna get wheelspin on a downshift? Even if you're in the wet, unless you happen to either:

- drive a seriously seriously seriously powerful car
- torture your clutch

?

I almost killed myself once dumping back from 4th into third in a V8 Holden Torana, the wheels spun and the ass swung out -- in the dry. The point was to swing the ass out, but with that much power the over stear was brutal, and I was 16. Ended up in someones front yard, no damage to anything or anyone though.

The moral of the story, it is possible.

The Passat does it now and then too, although mostly around corners if I need a quick boost to over take.

 

[Duke]

I almost killed myself once dumping back from 4th into third in a V8 Holden Torana, the wheels spun and the ass swung out -- in the dry. The point was to swing the ass out, but with that much power the over stear was brutal, and I was 16. Ended up in someones front yard, no damage to anything or anyone though.

The moral of the story, it is possible.

The Passat does it now and then too, although mostly around corners if I need a quick boost to over take.

But that would, technically, require to dial in more revs on the downshift than is necessary to make a smooth cog-change. I mean, if the wheels are simply rolling, and you downshift and rev-match, that shouldn't cause any extra power to go through the wheels. Once you overrev them that's when the grip says "sod off mate" and you start destroying your tires.

Or am I missing something?

 

[Dizal]

How the hell are you gonna get wheelspin on a downshift? Even if you're in the wet, unless you happen to either:

- drive a seriously seriously seriously powerful car
- torture your clutch

?

Does depend on the power of the car but lol im banned but drive a metro bout for a laugh cause its lightweight and like a go kart round lanes but example in dry I can do it sometimes not much chuggin along slow in fourth down shift to second hit the power sometimes spins espically in the wet thing goes alright for a non injection 1.4 less bhp than my vfr400 lmao but weighs fuk all its funni

But ive drove some beasts as a friend of mind works for a Vauxhall magainze so I get to have a little test drive in some cars like the Minaro which I drove round some roads and just loves goin sideways and VX220 Turbo which was fookin luvly to drive only drove round a big car park but still and a few other cars!

Hydroplaning do it sometimes but over here in ze uk well where im from call it Aqua-planing

 

[Duke]

Does depend on the power of the car but lol im banned but drive a metro bout for a laugh cause its lightweight and like a go kart round lanes but example in dry I can do it sometimes not much chuggin along slow in fourth down shift to second hit the power sometimes spins espically in the wet thing goes alright for a non injection 1.4 less bhp than my vfr400 lmao but weighs fuk all its funni

But ive drove some beasts as a friend of mind works for a Vauxhall magainze so I get to have a little test drive in some cars like the Minaro which I drove round some roads and just loves goin sideways and VX220 Turbo which was fookin luvly to drive only drove round a big car park but still and a few other cars!

Hydroplaning do it sometimes but over here in ze uk well where im from call it Aqua-planing

So yeah you tortured your clutch.

 

[Jokerman]

I once flew to England that way.

 

[C.R.Y.]

most of the hydroplaning is cause by bald tires. the water doesnt have nowhere to travel on the tire because theres no treads, so the tires float on the water