wow what a moron, anyone who has driven a car with the michelin sport cup tires knows what an utter disaster it is in the rain.

 

Nothing is bullet proof in the rain............

 

If it is going to be nasty I take the Cayenne TT, but no matter what you drive you have to respect the road conditions.

 

Good grief, we have know-it-alls driving new GT3s (and turbos). Best to direct such moron remarks directly to CAR mag's professional driver who experienced the disaster and wished only to remind readers again to be alert with these power-cars in intense rain storms.

 

I got nailed in that monsoon this am in NY, the turbo held it's own that's all I can say. the car was a mess thisafternoon, spent four hrs cleaning/rejexing it again. Hope the rest of you guys made out ok.

 

exactly. AWD or not, when your car hydroplanes, it's over water(hence the term "hydroplane"). nothing at that point could save you, you just have to pray the tires make contact with actual pavement as quickly as possible.

 

The last two comments. Spot on.

AWD + Puddle of H20 + MPH>65 =
2WD + Puddle of H2O + MPH>65 =
2WD + Puddle of H2O + MPH>65 + MPSC =

 

Well, AWD doesn't mean anything when surface grip is gone...I drove my TT from FLA to CA in Dec 2 years ago.....passing from OK into TX...right around Shamrock (Hi Buddy!) We started hitting those little ice patches that develop under the overpasses.....****! Freaked me out.....ended up doing about 50mph for about 75 miles....even at that speed.....I would hit those little (black ice?) patches and total loss of traction for about 100 feet.....steering wheel would shudder real hard....no, wasn't cool at all. Saw about 6-7 cars and big rigs crashed off the road in that 75 mile stretch.

Chris

 

Rollcage saved his life?
I thought those things were notorious for knocking you out of the back of your head when you crash.
Or is it the aftermarket ones?

 

ANY car can hydroplane, the level of difficulty with which a car is put in that position is greatly decresed with a) AWD and b) Better tires.

I have driven home in rain like that a couple of weeks ago in my TT on HOOSIERS, it was actually kinda fun, lucily our roads here drain well so there was no standing water, dont plan on doing that again.

 

Yes, technically rollcages do NOT belong in street driven vehicles......too dangerous..you don't want an solid steel object 6 inches from your head in a collision.....right? In a accident on the street a well installed and designed roll cage/bar will do one of two things....F**k you up when you hit it.....or help save you because the integrity of the car is improved....



Chris

 

OK, sorry for the noob question, but after reading through all of the posts, I can't help but ask my self what causes a vehicle to turn sideways as it proceeds to hypdroplane through water?

 

Drag on the two sides of the car is typically asymmetric while going through water (i.e. it's deeper on one side) and the car will turn towards the side with the greater drag.

A general comment - AWD is useful for *acceleration* in traction-limited situations. It doesn't do a thing for you in steady-state driving as was described in the original post. Further, PSM will act on all 4 wheels regardless of whether the car is AWD or RWD. Any light car with wide tires is particularly subject to hydroplaning; tires with shallow or no tread are far more susceptible than those with deep tread, etc.

If I had to pin a cause on the accident described, it would be in agreement with earlier posts: deep water, relatively high speed, and shallow-tread tires. TT vs GT3 doesn't make a lick of difference in those conditions.