Top Gear's Stig Crashes Lamborghini Murcielago

Aqua-planing has nothing to do with Quattro- its a tire issue if anything- I would suggest you bash on something you might have a clue about

Hydroplaning isn't an AWD vs FWD vs RWD issue. It's a matter of there being too much air compressed under the car as it goes over standing water. The water won't compress under the pressure of the air, instead the car lifts up and begins to skid. Only moderating your speed in such conditions could prevent it. But most people's first instinct is to slam on the brakes, which is the last thing you want to do. You want to keep your tires spinning and diffuse as much water as possible out the channels in your tires and pray the puddle ends before you spin out of control.

And the Lambo being so low to the ground with such a flat undercarriage makes it even that much more supseptible to hydroplaning.

Glad the driver was OK.

No awd system can defy the laws of physics^^^

It's funny when magazine or TV test drivers crash.

seriously.. if you buy a 4WD equipped vehicle you should expect it to be more sure-footed in adverse weather conditions. Whats the point otherwise?

Maybe he turned off the driver aids to help hime get a quicker time.. they often do on these programs.

So what do you consider sure-footed? 100mph in the rain?

Brush up on your physics and you will see lightweight cars with fat tire will aquaplane pretty quickly vs heavy cars with skinny tires. It is all about surface area on the water vs weight. Pretty hard to fool mother nature no matter how many wheels are driving.

They often drive fast laps in the wet.

I wonder how much extra downforce a Lambo generates at the 100mph you claim it crashed at?

it's no good having a tyre so narrow that it cuts through the water but only offers 25mm­² contact patch of rubber though - 'cos that would offer f*** all grip once it made it through to the cold damp tarmac.

Well thanks for trying, as it happens I already know all about aqua-planing. Exaggerating your point just made it less accurate - there are so many variables to take into account.. baring in mind we dont even know how fast he was going when he lost control, what he was attempting to do, or if he had wet weather tyres on..

Conclusion? quattro isn't any safer than FWD, or RWD in the rain?

Sorry to labour the point - but the number of times us non-audi people have had "quattro is soo much better than RWD if the weather gets bad" line rammed down our throats, I just wanna make sure I understand the capabilities of the system.

matt635- maybe this will help. Take aqua-planing out of the equation since it makes no difference whether you sre driving a fwd, rwd or awd. Is quattro safer in bad weather? The answer is absoulutly! I currently drive an S4 with quattro. I have owned 6 rwd BMW's and my wife drives a fwd lexus es350. When it is raining, snowing or on dirt I can drive my s4 just as fast and confidently as I can on dry pavement. When I would drive my BMW's there would be a ton of rear wheel slip followed by an overly intrusive traction control to regain control of the car. When I drive the lexus there is front wheel spin on acceleration and in cornering followed by the same intrusive traction control. The S4 tires never slip, the traction never has to kick in, its as if the car didn't know there was water, snow or dirt on the road. There is a huge difference in the three types of vehicles.

Even professional drivers crash, big deal, it's part of the job.

idiot...

C'mon, what do you expect if you're going to drive that fast in the wet? Plus, I love the way they compare it to Richard Hammond's crash only to end with "not injured". What an anti-climax...

That's what I was thinking about... stupid, really.

Even MY car will aquaplane!

anycar can aquaplane, its just less likely on heavy, narrow-profile tyred cars.

probably a different stig inside the helmet that day

Not the first time the Stig has crashed.

Stig has lost control of the cars he's driven in horrible conditions many times. They obviously won't show it but it's a given fact that test runs will have mishaps. I hope they have a good insurance policy for 'borrowing' those cars lol. Hopefully it's from Lamborghini themselves and not a poor ol' guy's lambo donated for the shooting.

I have experienced aqua planning quite a number of times driving in either Porsche 928 S4 or Merc SL (heavy cars wide tyres) or even Toyota Corolla (light car thin tyres). Living in this part of the world where heavy downpour is a norm, you would experiece aqua planning every now and again. Nothing much you can do except pray you have control back before you hit something. Moral of the story, do not drive fast when there is standing water on the road.

Maybe the next "Stig" should be Michael Schumacher! I here he needs a job and he's awsome in the rain!

AWD simply helps lessen the risk of rollover and losing control.
You shouldn't drive fast on a wet road period. No matter how sophisticated your AWD or stability control is.

Poor Murcielago... :[