a usable ford?!

No, not one with a blue oval, but a stream to drive through.
Preferably somewhere round Coventry / Rugby / down to Watford way (I'll probably be making the trek to SRS) for a photo-op.
The German A2 club's Calender theme for 2011 is "Action". We have some cars hurtling round a track and over some hills; I want some real action if I can get it.

Any other thoughts for photos? I have the rig (Manfrotto 241s + extension), the superstand is being ordered ASAP for the church and the "overview" of a junction filled with A2s, and I have some drives lined up for the annual meet which mean hairpins.

Ideas gratefully received

Bret

Try www.wetroads.co.uk

But of course driving through a ford at any speed in a normal car is daft and also irresponsible so that I doubt you'll get the high spray you seek from any responsible driver

That said if you want high speed and water I expect rallies will oblige.

Mike

When I saw the title of your post I thought it was an oxymoron.

aaah, this one in pillerton hersey looks good. Will have to check some sunset times, but that should work. Now to find an A2 driver...

Bret

Get someone with a 4x4 and a good tow rope who knows how to use both properly. There have been more than a few cases of cars simply stalling in fords or getting washed away when the water turned out to be too deep.

If it does stall then do not attempt to restart the engine. You may get lucky and find that it stalled before the water bent the conrods, in any case there is a risk of water being sucked back up the exhaust pipe.

Find out where your air intake is - on some cars it's ridiculously low. I've even seen a Volvo pretend 4x4 with the air intake right on top of the radiator - in other words precisely where the water will go when you enter the water and build a bow wave!

I've done a fair bit of this sort of thing on greenlanes, including Strata Florida which is renowned for the number of river crossings.

I'm with Matt. I have done Strata Florida and any number of local fords in my Land Rover which being a diesel won't stall if gets wet. I don't know what an A2 is like but my guess is that it has a very low air intake and its electrics will fail if they get a real soaking.

There is a very long shallow ford in Clee Hill area which is hardly local but isn't a zillion miles away that I would expect any modern car to manage. And it's attractive.

I can trump the Volvo air intake with a BMW intake where it was at the bottom of the front valance so ideally placed to suck in water which a friend did and that was that.

If you want mucky motorised drama find a comp safari event try www.awdc.co.uk these guys are mental.

Mike

... no drama please, this is about photos.

The air intake is at the top of the grill, but if there's too much water in the engine bay then the steering pump will pop and that would take around 2 feet.

I'm looking for 6"-8" of water, MAX, to be driven at a reasonable speed. "watersplash" is, I think, a better name. And I'm going to ask someone to take a look at the location before we go.

I will sort a rope and a towcar, too.

Another one that's come up is Shell ford - http://www.wetroads.co.uk/worcestershire.htm.

If you've got a location for Clee Hill, it would be great to have it.

Thanks!

Bret

Not if you're doing watersplash. It's irresponsible and arguably illegal. However, Clee will be in Shropshire I think and wetroads knows all about it.

I have driven Shell and I must say if David Goode says it's OK then it probably is as he is one of the most respected off road people in the county.

Personally I am fussy about this as 4x4 drivers have been the whipping boys for too long and I don't condone any irresponsible driving of public roads and only drive through fords at a speed that doesn't create any significant wash still less spray. I have used Shell ford and others when visiting clients out that way for sheer joi de vivre and only bottled it once when I was in my suit on road tyres on the Discovery and it was over 2 feet deep. I nosed in and decided I couldn't guarantee I'd get out.

On the other hand I have driven down an unsealed public road into a river where the property owned had tried to claim the road as his garden. If I have the right to drive the road then I will but only responsibly and in a way that does not damage the surface, the surroundings or cause undue distress and alarm to other road users. Watersplash would alarm me.

But at a personal level good luck and I hope you get the shots you want - I'd try and find some private land with a wet track rather than a ford. If you have mildly rutted tracks with water you'll get spectacular spray with little or no risk and no possibility of legal or moral issues. I'm trying to think of someone locally who has somewhere suitable, there must be plenty but none spring to mind. Well Avon Dasset quarry does which is just off the M40 and Farley Quarry in Shrophsire. Both these have suitable water and no issues but I don't have a contact number for the owners. They would almost certainly allow you to use them for a small fee. Robert Walhs runs pay and play days at both sites and he might help you - just google Robert Walsh 4x4 and you should get a hit. If I think of any more I'll PM you - got one Aston Cantlow. He has wet tracks, again I don't have a number but Robert Walsh uses him.

Mike

Farley is now in private ownership, a friend of mine has bought it with a view to operating a 4x4 site there, it should be open this summer.
And the 'pay and play' guy is Richard Walsh -

http://www.4x4funday.com/4sale.html

who knows how to charge an arm and a leg for everything!

There's a very photogenic ford in South Shropshire at Clee St Margaret -SO565844 - which passes through the pretty village and has a walkway running alongside it, take a K series camera!
It's almost certainly the one Mike mentions in an earlier post.

Mike, I have a defender 4x4, so I am not adverse to going agricultural, but, how on earth do you drive down a green lane without damaging it?

If it is wet the ground will tear up, if it is dry you will convert the earth to dust.

Please let me know how you do it!

The word "green" in greenlane, at least in my part of the world, generally doesn't mean that the lane is grass surfaced. Many are old stone roads that would be relatively unaffected by the passage of Challenger tanks never mind 4x4s.

Andrew

Good point Andrew. I lived in Derbyshire for 10 years, and, as you say, many of those bridle paths were pretty solid.

Carefully? It is not my intention to be rude but I don't really understand the question about tearing up the surface - why would I do that or need to do it? I definitely don't understand the question about dry roads going to dust. Some roads are rock based anyway.

I also don't understand the phrase 'going agricultural', it's not one I have come across. Bridle paths are not roads and hence are not driven.

If I want off road fun of a more demanding nature then I enter organised trials on private land - such as Farley Quarry which is one of the best sites I have used. I would hope that Lloydy's friend will make it available to clubs at reasonable cost but in truth he can make much more money organising other events.

But we have drifted a long way off topic and risk getting grouchy I think!

Mike

I guess I still haven't been clear. I'm talking 6" to be driven at 10mph. No "let's see if I can soak that person on the other side of the road". Yes, it would be more photogenic, but that's not the intention. Otherwise I really could just seek out a big puddle.

Bret

Than I suspect any of the fords will work and the one LLoydy mentioned is the one I thought of and is rather scenic as I recall. I think it even has some signs on it advising cyclists to dismount or something. Shell as I recall isn't that long and is more of a brook crossing than a road under water if you see what I mean.