A White Xmas In North Yorkshire

[timberwolf]

If you have to drive in snow then I think I probably had the best type of snow in the early hours of Christmas Eve on the Borough Bridge to Ripon road. The snow was that sort that sticks together well (I guess good for snowman/snowball making). After midnight, there were not many vehicles around, and I carefully followed the tyre tracks that were being partially erased by the continued falling snow. The Slip indicator (traction control) only lit up briefly when I had to make 90 degree turns. I drove pretty slow, maybe 15-25 mph, but fortunately I could just please myself as there was no one behind me for that whole stretch from the A1 to Ripon. When I got into Ripon at 1am, I hadn't expected to see someone doing a wheelie on their bicycle crossing the road ahead of me.

On Christmas day, my mum's Vauxhall car suffered a sudden mechanical breakdown, something related to the clutch or drive, which made a very unhealthy metal rattle/graveling sort of noise and no drive to the wheels. After the weekend, the AA moved the car to the local dealer, and there was red fluid underneath where the car had been abandoned, although I am not sure if it came from the Vauxhall, but if it did then I guess it was probably hydraulic fluid.

I am very pleased with how my Gen 2 Prius coped with the conditions. The local side roads were very icy to walk on, but the Prius with fairly new tyres had no apparent problems with traction. When I was trying to reverse the Prius off the pavement after the first night, the traction control stopped me because of snow (crushed down) that was wedged behind the rear wheels. Gently driving forward and then backwards ever so slightly faster solved that problem. I think that was the only time I got stuck. I did have one problem stopping on a minor side road coming down a bit of a hill, the ABS kicked in when I braked. I was going slow, but the minor road had had slush that had frozen again so that it had a round bumpy surface, so I'm not sure that it would have mattered if I been going even slower?

There was also a Pub/Restaurant car park in West Tanfield that had become an ice rink surface, nearly every step walking on that surface risked a fall, but again apart from the Slip indicator blinking now and then it seemed composed from inside (I'm not sure what the wheels were doing though).

So I got to do more driving than I bargained on, and no drinking, although I didn't really miss the latter.

[Chris Dance]

I know the Borough Bridge road to Ripon very well. I was stationed at RAF Dishforth in the late 60s so Ripon was the main shopping place. In Winter the road could be very scary for any driver especially in a Vauxhall Viva with no anti skid devices or ABS brakes. Pleased to hear the Gen 2 did well in the bad conditions. Do you have snow tyres fitted; if not what make of tyre is on your car?

[Seamaster73]

I've just come back from Harrogate, and never seen as many new Priuses in one place anywhere else. They seem to be incredibly popular there.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I've just come back from Harrogate, and never seen as many new Priuses in one place anywhere else. They seem to be incredibly popular there.

There's one or two kicking about ;)

[timberwolf]

I know the Borough Bridge road to Ripon very well. I was stationed at RAF Dishforth in the late 60s so Ripon was the main shopping place. In Winter the road could be very scary for any driver especially in a Vauxhall Viva with no anti skid devices or ABS brakes. Pleased to hear the Gen 2 did well in the bad conditions. Do you have snow tyres fitted; if not what make of tyre is on your car?

No, just the standard OEM tyres that came on the car - Bridgestone Turanza ER30 195/55R16 87V - they still look like new to me, I guess because at 3000 miles they are probably only now run in? Lots of tread left, estimating by sight I'd say maybe 6 or 7 mm at the centre. One of my rants is people choosing to run tyres over the winter at or below the legal minimum, I think it is sheer stupidity to go into a winter with tyres in that state - sadly it is all too common and it doesn't matter how good your tyres are if there are idiots around you running on virtually bald tyres.

We had our family Xmas dinner in Dishforth village. :) There is a bit of hill coming out of Dishforth village, and somewhat concerning to see that there was the grit/salt bin halfway up the curving rise (I had the shovel in the back anyway but I didn't really fancy spreading grit after stuffing myself) - but it snowed Xmas evening and I just took it at a sedate speed with the thought that the best thing to do was not to stop - the slip indicator didn't even flash.

The local side roads, car parks and yards were very icy, but fortunately the ones I went to were on level ground, not sure I would have been so fortunate if I had had to set off up hill?

I also avoided hills where I could, I even spent 2.5 hours on Xmas Eve clearing snow and 1/2 inch thick ice from the driveway and pavement where the kerb drops down to the road - otherwise we wouldn't have got the cars onto the driveway. There was a lad opposite who's approach to reversing up his drive was to boot the accelerator and spin the tyres like mad, and the predictable result was that his car slid sideways and he almost hit the stone wall.

I don't think there is any point in snow tyres this close to the South Coast, but given the occasional treacherous ice we've had here I'd like some of those studded ice tyres :P

[Habu]

I know the Borough Bridge road to Ripon very well. I was stationed at RAF Dishforth in the late 60s so Ripon was the main shopping place. In Winter the road could be very scary for any driver especially in a Vauxhall Viva with no anti skid devices or ABS brakes. Pleased to hear the Gen 2 did well in the bad conditions. Do you have snow tyres fitted; if not what make of tyre is on your car?

Yes, 'tis been a long time since it was an RAF station. It has been an Army Air Corps base (9 Regiment and part of 16 Air Assualt Brigade) for years. They buzz about in their Lynx helis. I'm just a bit further north and it has snowed well up here.