Supercars on unmade roads
Discussion
Apart from the probable lack of use, one of the main reasons for not replacing the Maser and keeping the Z4M is that we live on an unsealed farm track.
We don't own the farm track, and despite getting 3t of MOT dumped last year, it is rutted and potholed. And muddy, but flat.
The Maser occasionally struggled with some of the deeper holes before we got them filled, the Z4M and next door's boxster get out OK, but how would an R8 or 570GT fare on this? We can obviously fill the worst ones - a £40 dumpy bag would get it pretty much level at the moment, but the sprayer has been down twice this week and when it leaves the field behind us with the tractor treads full of mud it just sucks the aggregate out of the holes and piles mud elsewhere. Add in a couple of speed humps at the village entrance, and it is no wonder most neighbours have vans.
There's a local place hires some nice cars, a 570S, 458, Alpine, R8, and our thought is rather than commit to owning one of these things, spend the £6k or so we'd need for warranty/VED/insurance/service cost on hiring them for a few weekends a year. But, would I actually be able to get the darned things to the house?
Anyone car to share real world experience?
We don't own the farm track, and despite getting 3t of MOT dumped last year, it is rutted and potholed. And muddy, but flat.
The Maser occasionally struggled with some of the deeper holes before we got them filled, the Z4M and next door's boxster get out OK, but how would an R8 or 570GT fare on this? We can obviously fill the worst ones - a £40 dumpy bag would get it pretty much level at the moment, but the sprayer has been down twice this week and when it leaves the field behind us with the tractor treads full of mud it just sucks the aggregate out of the holes and piles mud elsewhere. Add in a couple of speed humps at the village entrance, and it is no wonder most neighbours have vans.
There's a local place hires some nice cars, a 570S, 458, Alpine, R8, and our thought is rather than commit to owning one of these things, spend the £6k or so we'd need for warranty/VED/insurance/service cost on hiring them for a few weekends a year. But, would I actually be able to get the darned things to the house?
Anyone car to share real world experience?
I have a McLaren GT (similar to a 570GT but slightly increased ride height). I've driven it up some pretty nasty tracks to get to out of the way airbnbs etc and it is mostly fine. The most difficult bits to tackle are really nasty low/high/low bits of road (like a narrow but tall speed bump, but in mud/gravel) especially if there are just two wheel ruts with a pronounced crown in the middle. The 720S clipped the ground noticeably more than the GT on much better road surfaces...
I think the GT is the most forgiving car of this sort, especially with the lift up - reportedly the same as a C Class ride height, at least at the front. I doubt you'd get away with an R8 and certainly not anything lower than that or with a delicate splitter etc if it is really bad.
I think the GT is the most forgiving car of this sort, especially with the lift up - reportedly the same as a C Class ride height, at least at the front. I doubt you'd get away with an R8 and certainly not anything lower than that or with a delicate splitter etc if it is really bad.
If you can post some photos of the track, owners may have a better 'gut feel' for whether their car would handle it ok or not.
I hired a 570S (likely the one from the place you mention in Shrewsbury) for three days, it didn't have any issue with speed bumps using the nose lift, I was surprised how it didn't ground out even on fairly severe road geometries. However the issue could be with the rear wheels I guess, especially if it's rutted, could lose a rear wheel into a pothole and lose traction potentially.
It's worth noting that the McLaren 650 and 675 have a lift system which lifts both axles, which I assume would give you the all around clearance you need. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSF1b80_i74 (Schmee advisory) Later Macs only lift the nose.
The 'Tax the Rich 100' videos on YT have mostly been taken down, but gave some idea of the off-roading capabilities of a few supercars.
The Ferrari FF obviously has 4wd and I think both-axle lift, if you fancy a Ferrari V12. Harry gave one a test run as his new farm vehicle, including some off-road exercise:
I hired a 570S (likely the one from the place you mention in Shrewsbury) for three days, it didn't have any issue with speed bumps using the nose lift, I was surprised how it didn't ground out even on fairly severe road geometries. However the issue could be with the rear wheels I guess, especially if it's rutted, could lose a rear wheel into a pothole and lose traction potentially.
It's worth noting that the McLaren 650 and 675 have a lift system which lifts both axles, which I assume would give you the all around clearance you need. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSF1b80_i74 (Schmee advisory) Later Macs only lift the nose.
The 'Tax the Rich 100' videos on YT have mostly been taken down, but gave some idea of the off-roading capabilities of a few supercars.
The Ferrari FF obviously has 4wd and I think both-axle lift, if you fancy a Ferrari V12. Harry gave one a test run as his new farm vehicle, including some off-road exercise:
very topically, you want one of these https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/news/the-new-lam... !
andrew said:
very topically, you want one of these https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/news/the-new-lam... !
Yeah, I saw that, although I much prefer the 911 rally cars or a Fulvia.Hmmm <tappetty tap>.. something like this - the wife has a soft spot for Mantas
https://racemarket.net/rally/rally-cars-for-sale/h...
I'll get a picture later when I take the dog out.
I also lived down an unmade dirt track which I don't own. After years of getting MOT dumped into holes and getting extremely frustrated by neighbours doing tons of building work and having large amounts of heavy lorries etc driving up and down I managed to convince everyone down our lane to chip in with some distance weighted contributions from the houses to the main road.
Not a moment too soon! We had a Maserati GranTurismo Sport which was okish but sometimes struggled with the holes as well as a Qashqai for the school run which was fine. The work got done a few weeks before my Roma arrived and a couple of months before the Mrs Boxster arrived. I got a Roma loaner from the dealer while waiting for mine a few times which was delayed and it massively struggled with the potholes. I can't imagine a McLaren without significant lift would be better and I'd imagine it would be much worse given the Roma actually has quite good ground clearance and handles speed bumps (including riding the outside edges of partial speedbumps) with ease.
It took quite a few months of corralling the neighbours etc but it was massively worth it. I definitely wouldn't have anything lower than a Maserati on an unmade track which I had to keep shoving MOT in.
Not a moment too soon! We had a Maserati GranTurismo Sport which was okish but sometimes struggled with the holes as well as a Qashqai for the school run which was fine. The work got done a few weeks before my Roma arrived and a couple of months before the Mrs Boxster arrived. I got a Roma loaner from the dealer while waiting for mine a few times which was delayed and it massively struggled with the potholes. I can't imagine a McLaren without significant lift would be better and I'd imagine it would be much worse given the Roma actually has quite good ground clearance and handles speed bumps (including riding the outside edges of partial speedbumps) with ease.
It took quite a few months of corralling the neighbours etc but it was massively worth it. I definitely wouldn't have anything lower than a Maserati on an unmade track which I had to keep shoving MOT in.
I too live down an unmade farm track and own an R8. Its 400 yards long and takes 10 minutes to drive down very carefully! Like you, we periodally fill in the pot holes and its fine for a short while, til the rain comes or until the Amazon delivery drivers come down at 50mph! I'm actually surprised about the clearance on the R8, as I never catch the underside of it down the lane. You will get used to driving along the ridges of the pot holes and not through them with practice, so I think you would probably be OK with one as I can't see your lane being any worse than ours!
The only down side to this, is that just "nipping out" in the R8 never happens as its such as faff, so it only gets used for high days and holidays.
Best of luck.
C
ChrisPackit said:
…or until the Amazon delivery drivers come down at 50mph…
Made me chuckle, delivery drivers here wind me up by slamming on their brakes outside our gates pulling up all the gravel in to nice little piles.We live down an 800m unadopted lane but with only 1 neighbour it would be aa good chunk between us to get it sorted. I'm hoping a 570s/600LT can make it down and back once a month but I'd have to stay on top of the pot holes more than we do now.
Paul it’s fine. I probably don’t live a million miles from you off the side of Dartmoor and I’ve got a 1/4 mile of standard Devon farm track for my driveway. And the usual Devon farm access road leading upto that and I’ve run the SLKs, Alfa 4C and the F12 up and down em. Had to rebuild the suspension on the 4C after 50,000 miles but meh, C’est la vie. Amusingly the other high mile use 4C in the country was run by a pair of brothers in Wales who also lived on a farm/quarry type affair I believe!
Having said all that, Ive told my Pork dealer I’d quite like a 911 Dakar if he could get hold of one pls!
Having said all that, Ive told my Pork dealer I’d quite like a 911 Dakar if he could get hold of one pls!
I think you will be absolutely fine, they are not that low and if you go slow shouldn't be a problem.
Have ended up on some truly horrendous unmade roads in very tricky cars, front lift up and slow, if you avoid the big holes you rarely if ever even catch the front protection even without lift. If its you own drive you will soon work out the best route and angles. I've always found changing camber incline/decline you can't avoid more of a problem with low cars than holes.
Have ended up on some truly horrendous unmade roads in very tricky cars, front lift up and slow, if you avoid the big holes you rarely if ever even catch the front protection even without lift. If its you own drive you will soon work out the best route and angles. I've always found changing camber incline/decline you can't avoid more of a problem with low cars than holes.
Forgive me if this seems like a silly suggestion, but rather than £40 for aggregate, what about spending £250 on 10 bags of self-leveller and putting a longer term solution in place?
Just a thought.
https://www.diy.com/departments/tarmac-floor-level...
https://www.screwfix.com/c/building-doors/self-lev...
Just a thought.
https://www.diy.com/departments/tarmac-floor-level...
https://www.screwfix.com/c/building-doors/self-lev...
Been a bit slow replying...
Firstly a bit of B&Q screed won't cut it - apart from the inability to stand up to the weight of the bin lorry or a tractor, it tends to be wet outside
Secondly we're looking at a bit over 100m, so it get's expensive. 3t of loose tipped MOT barely filled the biggest holes last year.
The first bit isn't too bad, a couple of small holes on the bend then a good bit..
but around the corner there's a stretch when someone got some cowboys in to lay their own water supply a few years back and it has never been right since (the water co were around last month asking about it and wondering where the new meter was(n't).).
and these holes are about 4 inches deep, possibly a bit more if you measure to the centre ridge.
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/PadZL9g9.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/PadZL9g9" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/PadZL9g9.jpg)
I reckon a couple of dumpys would fill the worst of it for the summer, as long as the farmer didn't come along on a wet day, and I can get 5t loose tipped for under £200 so compared to the cost of the car it is minimal.
Oddly the wife was just about OK with spending £1500 or so to hire a nice car for a few days, but then said "don't you think it is a bit daft mending the road just so you can hire a car".
There's always the public car park at the far end, I'm sure the doggers would keep an eye on it
Firstly a bit of B&Q screed won't cut it - apart from the inability to stand up to the weight of the bin lorry or a tractor, it tends to be wet outside
Secondly we're looking at a bit over 100m, so it get's expensive. 3t of loose tipped MOT barely filled the biggest holes last year.
The first bit isn't too bad, a couple of small holes on the bend then a good bit..
but around the corner there's a stretch when someone got some cowboys in to lay their own water supply a few years back and it has never been right since (the water co were around last month asking about it and wondering where the new meter was(n't).).
and these holes are about 4 inches deep, possibly a bit more if you measure to the centre ridge.
I reckon a couple of dumpys would fill the worst of it for the summer, as long as the farmer didn't come along on a wet day, and I can get 5t loose tipped for under £200 so compared to the cost of the car it is minimal.
Oddly the wife was just about OK with spending £1500 or so to hire a nice car for a few days, but then said "don't you think it is a bit daft mending the road just so you can hire a car".
There's always the public car park at the far end, I'm sure the doggers would keep an eye on it
f
k me Paul, you aren’t my neighbour using the top of my driveway are you? Yes, I have a very similar situation to you. It was £700 a cpl of yrs ago btw for my groundworks chap to do a “temporary” repair along it, patching up and tamping down. A more substantive repair is a cpl of grand. As per my post previously Paul - you will be fine.
Oke way here.
k me Paul, you aren’t my neighbour using the top of my driveway are you? Yes, I have a very similar situation to you. It was £700 a cpl of yrs ago btw for my groundworks chap to do a “temporary” repair along it, patching up and tamping down. A more substantive repair is a cpl of grand. As per my post previously Paul - you will be fine.Oke way here.
DeejRC said:
fk me Paul, you aren’t my neighbour using the top of my driveway are you? Yes, I have a very similar situation to you. It was £700 a cpl of yrs ago btw for my groundworks chap to do a “temporary” repair along it, patching up and tamping down. A more substantive repair is a cpl of grand. As per my post previously Paul - you will be fine.
Oke way here.
No - moved to Shropshire a couple of years ago, hmm, should perhaps change my username k me Paul, you aren’t my neighbour using the top of my driveway are you? Yes, I have a very similar situation to you. It was £700 a cpl of yrs ago btw for my groundworks chap to do a “temporary” repair along it, patching up and tamping down. A more substantive repair is a cpl of grand. As per my post previously Paul - you will be fine.Oke way here.
We were on a private lane in Exeter, but with 60+ we had a maintenance fund and eventually had it tarmac'd.I reckon that'd be fine in the 570S, nose lifted and taking it a bit gently. Nothing there looks worse than some of the speed bumps etc I took it over, and it was fine, didn't hear anything scrape.
Tbh it's pretty much a flat bottom so even if it did touch I doubt it'd do any actual damage on that track.
So yeah, I'd say go ahead and hire the car and find out.
We live about 500m up an unmade farm track. About half of it is ours the rest is shared with a couple of neighbours. It gets bad after heavy rain and with the postie driving special stages but generally we (mainly me) try to keep on top of it by buying in a few tens of tons of aggregate/road planings each year and getting some exercise with a shovel and a wheelbarrow. From your pictures I would say that our track is worse than yours at present, though I am in the process of rectifying that.
My 370Z whilst not a supercar has about 12.5mm ground clearance and I have had no difficulties with grounding or with potholes on our track. Though it does have fairly short front/rear overhangs so is not so susceptible to slope changes. I would have no qualms driiving on our track in its present state. It is not really potholes that are the issue - wide wheels/tyres mean they straddle pretty much anything and potholes are fairly trivial to fill (ideally don't do it when they are full of water and overfill them so they are rounded off).
As someone above has mentioned the things to look out for are raised/grassy centres (which helpfully can keep the underside swept clean) - especially with central exhausts. For any particularly raised areas I drive off centre/with one wheel on the high section. Do this often enough and the high section gets lower... The other areas to be aware of are where there are sudden changes in angle of approach (we have a couple of cattle grids to traverse) which just require an angled approach if it is marginal - in much the same way you would a dropped kerb.
Looking at your pictures, if you keep on top of the potholes and don't let the track deteriorate too much then I don't think you should have any big issues, just don't expect to have a clean car when going out at this time of year!
My 370Z whilst not a supercar has about 12.5mm ground clearance and I have had no difficulties with grounding or with potholes on our track. Though it does have fairly short front/rear overhangs so is not so susceptible to slope changes. I would have no qualms driiving on our track in its present state. It is not really potholes that are the issue - wide wheels/tyres mean they straddle pretty much anything and potholes are fairly trivial to fill (ideally don't do it when they are full of water and overfill them so they are rounded off).
As someone above has mentioned the things to look out for are raised/grassy centres (which helpfully can keep the underside swept clean) - especially with central exhausts. For any particularly raised areas I drive off centre/with one wheel on the high section. Do this often enough and the high section gets lower... The other areas to be aware of are where there are sudden changes in angle of approach (we have a couple of cattle grids to traverse) which just require an angled approach if it is marginal - in much the same way you would a dropped kerb.
Looking at your pictures, if you keep on top of the potholes and don't let the track deteriorate too much then I don't think you should have any big issues, just don't expect to have a clean car when going out at this time of year!
I have a private 500m drive to the farm I live on. I got fed up with constantly filling potholes and 20years ago got a full spec ashphalt drive on the entire drive. Its as good today as when it was laid and gets plenty of abuse with lorries, tractors, farm machinery etc. One of the very best investments I ever did !
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