a name
08-14-2004, 03:21 PM
Your 4x4 has four big tyres in contact with the road, with a contact patch
in the region of 400mm square each, total 800mm x 800mm of rubber on the
road which is probably fairly new. your caravan has four wheels if you are
lucky, all of which are significantly smaller probably around 200mm x 200mm
each, giving you an area of around 400mm x 400mm of rubber in contact with
the road if you have a four wheel van, half that for a 2 wheel van.You don't
need a degree in physics to tell that just because you feel in control, your
caravan is out of control at half the speed of your 4x4.
"Tmax" <tmax@futurenet.com> wrote in message
news:2mv2o6Frfj0qU1@uni-berlin.de...
>
> "ROBIN DUMPLETON" <robin.dumpleton1@btopenworld.com> wrote in message
> news:cedjcc$9ln$1@titan.btinternet.com...
> .
> > If you are behind any of these guys, the van is already snaking across
two
> > lanes but because the big 4x4 sits there they don't realise that,
despite
> > what they think the van is already out of control,,
>
>
>
> sorry, just not true.
>
> I'm not going to get into the argument of whether speeding is 'right' or
> 'wrong' - but I can say that I've towed at 85mph plus - and the van was
rock
> steady behind a 4x4. I slowed down for two reasons only - #1, the
> possibility of a caravan tyre blow-out and #2, penalty points...
>
> As far as outfit stability goes, it 'was' perfectly stable - I've seen
many
> other outfits that seem precarious at 60mph due to the weedy towcars, a
4x4
> that weighs almost 50% more than the caravan it's pulling is far safer
than
> them, even at 80mph
>
> The main problem with caravanning is that people try to do it on the
cheap -
> using totally inadequate vehicles. If you want to tow a caravan get a
heavy
> powerful tow car - costs more to run, but that's the price of the pastime.
>
>
in the region of 400mm square each, total 800mm x 800mm of rubber on the
road which is probably fairly new. your caravan has four wheels if you are
lucky, all of which are significantly smaller probably around 200mm x 200mm
each, giving you an area of around 400mm x 400mm of rubber in contact with
the road if you have a four wheel van, half that for a 2 wheel van.You don't
need a degree in physics to tell that just because you feel in control, your
caravan is out of control at half the speed of your 4x4.
"Tmax" <tmax@futurenet.com> wrote in message
news:2mv2o6Frfj0qU1@uni-berlin.de...
>
> "ROBIN DUMPLETON" <robin.dumpleton1@btopenworld.com> wrote in message
> news:cedjcc$9ln$1@titan.btinternet.com...
> .
> > If you are behind any of these guys, the van is already snaking across
two
> > lanes but because the big 4x4 sits there they don't realise that,
despite
> > what they think the van is already out of control,,
>
>
>
> sorry, just not true.
>
> I'm not going to get into the argument of whether speeding is 'right' or
> 'wrong' - but I can say that I've towed at 85mph plus - and the van was
rock
> steady behind a 4x4. I slowed down for two reasons only - #1, the
> possibility of a caravan tyre blow-out and #2, penalty points...
>
> As far as outfit stability goes, it 'was' perfectly stable - I've seen
many
> other outfits that seem precarious at 60mph due to the weedy towcars, a
4x4
> that weighs almost 50% more than the caravan it's pulling is far safer
than
> them, even at 80mph
>
> The main problem with caravanning is that people try to do it on the
cheap -
> using totally inadequate vehicles. If you want to tow a caravan get a
heavy
> powerful tow car - costs more to run, but that's the price of the pastime.
>
>