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Quote: Originally posted by beechy on 16/6/2014

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Quote: Originally posted by millermicm on 16/6/2014

Quote: Originally posted by misterg on 16/6/2014HGVs and buses drawing alongside can unsettle stability. Over the years I have felt snaking but once it starts ease up gradually.

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Shouldn't really "unsettle stability" in a correctly matched & loaded van. They more cause some buffeting from wind & bow wave. Virtually all HGVs are limited to 56mph. There should be very few passing unless you are driving slowly under speed limit. Coaches are do have a higher maximum speed limit at 70mph.

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When did coach speed limits get raised? I always thought that they were restricted to 100kph (62mph) on motorways and national speed limit dual carriageways

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Quote: Originally posted by sunshinetours on 16/6/2014

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Many motohomes can travel at 70mph legally, doesn't mean they should as high winds, heavy loading etc can all make a difference to them also, (plus having seen what happens to a motorhome shell in an accident I wouldn't want to be any where near one yet alone inside on if I was in an accident).

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Quote: Originally posted by fixings on 16/6/2014

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Caravanners who understand why snaking occurs will know that snaking is not caused by excess speed...

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Quote: Originally posted by OliverDay on 16/6/2014

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The University of Bath has been studying caravan stability for nearly twenty years and is now regarded as the foremost independent authority in this field. Their research has concluded that speed remains the dominant factor in stability performance.

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Quote: Originally posted by fixings on 17/6/2014

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Oh contraire VangoMan, these sort of fun threads make people post more which increases the traffic through ukcs, which of course is the object of the forum.

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Quote: Originally posted by fixings on 17/6/2014

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& after 20yrs they come up with the blindingly obvious? You are less likely to crash towing at 30mph than you are at 60mph. Stability is nothing to do with snaking which is an uncontrolled pendulum effect due to incorrect loading of car & caravan. Obvious faster you are going when it starts to snake the more likely you are to crash & it took them 20yrs to work that one out? Thats theorists for you.

If you want to score brownie points Ollie, you will have to do better than this.

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Quote: Originally posted by freeatlast on 17/6/2014

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Quote: Originally posted by Kelper on 17/6/2014Something that seems not to have been covered ... in France, the towing limit is 81 mph for vehicles that comply with the max towing limit of 3,500kg.

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France is a good example actually. For a start they have always had lower caravan speed limits on certain downhill stretches of motorways, and in the last few years have lowered the speed limit for larger combinations. Wonder why they would take those measures if it was entirely safe to travel at 80mph?

How about Germany where cars have no motorway speed limit but caravans are limited to 50mph. Its quite fun towing on a 2 lane German autobahn at 50mph with a huge convoy of irate artics following because they are not allowed to overtake.

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