I saw this advertisement from Audi on their second records on driving up Kaipola ski jump in Finland. It was a rather impressive achievement and photos. I could not believe that a car can climb a hill with slope of 80 degrees, even on a regular ground (not icy road). When I dig out more information about the Audi advertisement, I read more detail information on how the car actually climbed up the hill. I would like to find out comments from the readers about driving up an icy snow hill with very steep slopes. My immediate questions are:
- Could you actually climb up a ski jump by the power of your car, from a stop, without slipping on an 80 degrees icy/snow slope?. In the Audi advertisement, they were using a winch in which the car could only goes up. There was a braking mechanism to prevent the car from slipping backward.
- If the above answer is no, then how many degrees of slope can a regular or 4WD car climb a slippery/ice hill slope? What about a regular, dry, soil or rocky slope?
- Is the wonder of such a climb a result of the high power car (big engine), the all wheel drive system, or the good quality gripping ice tires, or all of the above?
- On what icy slope is a car can actually stand still on without sliding down? I thought that a relatively small slope (with no friction because of ice) that a car can stand up on icy slope more than say 15 to 20 degrees ( 1V to 3H to 1V to 4H). .... or is the figure even lower, say 10 degrees ... or less?
- How many degrees slope that Land Rover brags about in their advertisement? Or a Hummer? I think they are on a regular, dry, rocky or soil ground, not snow or icy surface.
- How good quality ice or snow tires can reduce the slippage when standing on a slope? Will car using these tires stand up at say 25 or
30 degrees? I don't think there is any car on any tires that can stand still at a 45 degrees slope (1H:1V) . Correct me if I am wrong.- If the Audi car shown in the ad does not have a winch, do you think it can climb that 80 degrees slope ? What happen it it accelerate first on flat surface until it achieve a very high speed? If it NOT on ice/snow slope, could a car (like an Audi AWD) climb an 80 degrees slope in a dry, rocky, rough surface?
- I assume that contributing factors for climbing are: adequate engine power, all wheel drive or 4x4, good gripping tires, weight of the car, and a good driver. Are there any other governing factors?
Would like to hear some discussion. Thank you!