Syncro in the Snow

[blurb55]

Pasted this from another thread as it may be of interest to Syncro owners.:

Came home from South Yorkshire last night in the Syncro in bloody awful blizzards.

Sheffield was just rainy but when we got to the borders with the Peak Park the snow started with a vengance.

We set off up the Ringinglow Road past the Duke of Norfolk pub when the road turned to snow. Rear diff lock on and up we went. Slowly a number of taillights appeared out of the blowing snow.

First in line was a rescue truck sent from Barnsley to recover a Jag who had gone off the road on the bad bends further on, he was stuck. In front of him was a Disco that was also static.

Had Jane and the boys inside so decided that descretion would be called for, so began to reverse slowly back to the last junction.

At this point, some idiot in a New Range Rover Sport went past all the rest of us coming back down Ringinglow Road (ok going up and over but going down into Hathersage it is is a barsteward of a road) There was me in the Syncro, a recovery truck and a Disco coming back cos there were too many cars to get past and the snow was getting too deep too fast - his response. "This can get through" and he had nice low profile road tyres (hope he is still up there freezing, the arrogant git - blame this on Clarkson's exploit up the Scottish Ben in one).

We doubled back across to the main road from Sheff to Hathersage which was clear right up to Sheffield Tigers Rugby Ground where the hillside is more exposed and the snow had built up.

Almost immediately there were cars strewn across the road as people revved engines and spun round. There were people walking obliviously in and out of the sliding cars. Many had locked their cars and were walking back towards Sheffield.

We picked our way past on the grass verge and pavements in virgin snow.

The cars thinned out and disappeared after about 100 yards and it was just us in the Syncro.

We did not see another vehicle until we were on the moor above Fox House, where there was a mass car abandonment scheme in operation. There were the usual people stuck in a range of saloons and "my car is considerably more expensive than yours" motors.

There were people walking about all over the place, opening doors and wandering about whilst people tried to drive through. The Police were getting pretty frustrated as they endeavoured to persuade people to park up in Fox House and await some form of rescue.

Eventually a SWB landy made a break across the wide verges, so we followed and got past all manner of vehicles parked at jaunty angles to the road. A couple of hundred yards of slalom on ice and we were through and heading towards Toad's Mouth. There we me Plod in a tidy RAV4 with ATs, had a little chat about how a minibus had got this far, he was not a little impressed with what a Syncro could do. After this we followed him all the way down into Hathersage.

We did see an Autohomes camper stuck between Fox House and the Surprise View - whoever you are, hope you get your van back in one piece.

Depressingly, there were some complete planks driving round the POLICE ROAD CLOSED signs at Hathersage as they set off towards the snowbound masses oop on't moor.

We pulled into Sickleholme Service Station and after a chat with another plod about the Jag (they knew nothing about him and this was an hour later!) we went home.

Had a hoot in the snow though, can't wait for more. The Syncro is just so confidence inspiring, got up and through everything. Without having to revert to G gear or front diff lock.

The snow is still here and does not weem to want to go away, the temp is dropping and we are heading for a major freeze up so we will now test its ability on ice Shocked Shocked Shocked

[matt]

the morning after, bout 2 miles from Pauls



and only 2wd

[blurb55]

Hi Matt N Torz
Jane passed on the message but was chained to the desk as I have a big presentation tomorrow. Gradually watched it melting until about 3pm when the temp dropped quite a lot and it is now merrily freezing into sheet ice - whoopeeedo got to take Ben & Joe to Ju Jitsu in 10 mins.

[Simon Baxter]

Don't want to diss syncros but I think you would be surprised on how capable a 2WD T3 is in snow, Obviously a syncro is gunna beat them hands down when things get tough but a 2WD with some decent tyres and when it comes to it, some snow chains will go most places with snow covered roads.

Heres us just arriving in Avoriaz (1800m) just after driving from Morzine (1000m) after a night of heavy snow.
Ambient temperature is somewhere like -10*C I seem to remember, there were alsorts of cars and vans abandoned at the side of the road, the 2WD wedge with sh!t flickers and snow chains just romped up, steady away.
Obviously this is gunna be easier and safer in a syncro but the 2WD is quite impressive non the less.

Anyone remember Dave Pickles's impressive accent (Middles Moor?) in the Dales earlier this year? that was a syncro in 2WD (No prop) and he did amazingly well too!

[Simon Baxter]

sh!t, forgot the photo!



Doh.

[blurb55]

Hi Si.
would never look down on a 2wd VW, the T2 and numerous Beetles were great in the snow.
My first Beetle left the boy racers in Escorts for dead when I was in Worcester, they fishtailed all over but the tall skinny tyres worked a treat.

[toomanytoys]

Sorry Si
My 2wd with colway winters is crap... chains make a huge difference.. so easy to get stuck.. without
and a difflock make all the difference too I tried my syncro before removing the box.. open diff was just as usless as a normal 2wd, locked up what a difference....

[Simon Baxter]

I suppose ours was loaded up to the hilt, which will have had some effect on it's performance.

s'pose some could be attributed to the driver

[MrsMercdoctor]

Anyone remember Dave Pickles's impressive accent (Middles Moor?) in the Dales earlier this year? that was a syncro in 2WD (No prop) and he did amazingly well too!

Oh yes and very impressive it was too
And Si that was last year

And all them pics look fab wish it was snowing here

[toomanytoys]

yeah a load in the back does help.. thats why campers seem to find a bit better traction.

[T'Onion]

I've taken my 2wd across the sheff>Hather road in the snow , had a few problems but after a quick reverse and a run up i got there in the end , i've had to drive up our hill in a few inch's of snow , its all down to momentum and judgement , then again i got it stuck in tesco carpark , i pushed it out while the cab mat drove the van .. driving on snow is one thing ,ice is all together a differant matter

[toomanytoys]

yours is a camper too Mark.. my 'velle has little extra weight, this has a big impact on traction.. Mine also has the heavy duty suspension and doesnt really get working properly until its well loaded, last winter I threw 10 concrete blocks in the back, it helped a lot..

I got the syncro stuck on soft ground outside my house.. a front wheel went in a large mole run (a good 8" deep) and once the rear lost traction it couldnt climb out.. it had the prop removed and the borrowed box doesnt have a difflock.. I had "summer" tyres on too...

[HarryMann]

driving on snow is one thing ,ice is all together a differant matter!

Indeed, and crab apples another as well, but we don't have them on our friction graph
I'd put them below ice, as I can stand up on ice but not on crab apples Had to crawl away from this late Autumn situation and my mate taking the photo couldn't get back to his bike across the apples. Very though





Loose grit seems the only surface where spinning your wheels excessively gains you much, probably due to the rapidly ejected matter... stand well back!

[toomanytoys]

Ha ha ha...
Lucky you didnt end up in the hedge.....

[HarryMann]

Alf did I think, but the pain from laughter was just too much, prickly hedges don't come close...

Modified FrictionVsSlip graph...