I think I just saw a fire engine get its back end out.....

[wildcat45]

Sitting in the car just now and a fire engine on blues and twos rushes onto the roundabout I was facing.

It really looked like he got the back end out for a second. A tad of correction and a bit of a lurch and he was again on his way.

Pretty impressive.

Conditions were dry.

I guess it was due to the water on board but I had assumed they would have had beffles in the tank.

Any Firefighters out there? What are these things like to drive in a hurry? Fun? Scary?

[rich_b]

I think Dennis are the only purpose built ones and therefore very good, whereas the others are converted trucks which can be hit and miss handling wise.

I guess the proportion of budget your local council decides to spend defines the fun/scary factor

[illmonkey]

I know 2 firefighters and they say its very common for it to happen. Probably not meant to drive that aggressively, but at the scene of a accident or a big fire, 30 seconds can change the outcome.

[Riley Blue]

A fireman I knew years back managed to turn one on its side taking a roundabout. He reckoned they were a bd to drive but we're talking twenty-five years ago.

[Alfanatic]

I saw one in a full on tank slapper in very wet weather in Boksburg. Straight piece of road. He was in a proper hurry, making lots of noise and blue light, at night, he hit a big puddle on the left side and came out of it sideways. Overcorrected twice and looked like he must have more or less visited both lock stops before the driver got it straightened up and from what I can tell had his boot back down flat on the accelerator. Not sure if he had even lifted it in the first place. He crossed a major intersection sideways, lights were green for him at least.

Edited by Alfanatic on Friday 24th August 19:03

[Nickyboy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpMe32tr_-Y

[Landyphil]

We have our own fire station at work. The Dennis's they have have the sort of turbo whistle you'd see dubbed onto "2 Chav 2 Furious" or similar.

Have had a look round one a few years back it had every sort of stability facilty you can imagine including I believe and active rear diff.

I may have let out a bit of man wee at that point.

[4key]

In the damp/wet they are very easy to slide, as said though there are many different variations of equipment. You would have to be pushing hard to do it in the dry, but it only takes a small bit of reduced grip for them to step out.

It normally looks quite impressive from behind, but because of the long wheel base it all happens nice and slowly to the driver and is quite easy to control.

[anonymous-user]

Literally many years ago, Top Gears Tony Mason was the "sack of spuds" in the passenger seat of a Dennis engine being driven in a very spirited fashion around a damp Chobham test track. The guy driving was their principle test driver and he wasn't hanging around, unlike the afformentioned Mr Mason who was hanging on the grab handles in the cab for dear life !! Proper sideways everywhere ;-)

[mat777]

Give that they have to be pretty nippy when full of water, I can only imagine that an unladen fire engine must be like driving a racing truck!

[OllieC]

Max_Torque said:

Literally many years ago, Top Gears Tony Mason was the "sack of spuds" in the passenger seat of a Dennis engine being driven in a very spirited fashion around a damp Chobham test track. The guy driving was their principle test driver and he wasn't hanging around, unlike the afformentioned Mr Mason who was hanging on the grab handles in the cab for dear life !! Proper sideways everywhere ;-)

I remember this would have been about 1990 or something, I was very impressed at the angles (and speed) that the test driver managed to get the truck at !

Sadly a quick search of Youtube has not found it

[alangla]

OllieC said:

Max_Torque said:

Literally many years ago, Top Gears Tony Mason was the "sack of spuds" in the passenger seat of a Dennis engine being driven in a very spirited fashion around a damp Chobham test track. The guy driving was their principle test driver and he wasn't hanging around, unlike the afformentioned Mr Mason who was hanging on the grab handles in the cab for dear life !! Proper sideways everywhere ;-)

I remember this would have been about 1990 or something, I was very impressed at the angles (and speed) that the test driver managed to get the truck at !

Sadly a quick search of Youtube has not found it

I remember this one - also remember Mason being encouraged to do reverse doughnuts by the test driver - full lock, reverse gear, full throttle!

[bakerstreet]

I remember watching one bouncing off curbs at about 60mph. It was on the hard shoulder of a motorway. Was quite impressive

I believe they are unlimited and can do something like 90mph, but I'm happy to be corrected on this.

I am always impressed by things like fire engines and ambulances. They have to work every day with out fail and they put up with an enormous amount of abuse. Its kind of why I recommend the Jeep Cherokee with the 5 pot merc diesel engine fitted as its the sprinter ambulance engine.

However the new ambulances have the 180bhp TDV6 fitted (I think).

[Tango13]

I used to work with a retained fireman who also drove the engines. A little bit of sideways action was sometimes possible at the lights at the bottom of Hunters bridge in WGC with bonus points if you could trigger the camera on Bessemer road shortly after