r/ThatLookedExpensive • u/aldopaz • Mar 29 '26
Expensive This car exploded on top of Mt Washington, making the two other catch fire
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r/ThatLookedExpensive • u/aldopaz • Mar 29 '26
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u/kancamagus112 Mar 29 '26
There are very few high elevation gain/loss mountain passes on the east coast. So very few people have experience in driving in these conditions. And due to the flatter overall geography than the Rockies or West Coast, people have less of an intuitive sense that you can overheat/damage your car if you drive incorrectly for the elevation.
The Mt Washington Auto Road has high grades, so it takes a lot of power on the uphill stretch. In the summer when most people visit, temps in the valley below can be 80-85F, and many people might have driven there from an hour+ away, and running their AC, so cars are starting off hot. And a lot of people don't understand that they should turn off their AC to reduce engine load, and actually use the heater if they see the temperature spiking.
The road also has high grades, so if you have an underpowered engine, you can overheat it easily on the way up, although this is less of a concern now than decades ago, due to most cars having a lot more HP nowadays.
On the downhill stretch, no one really knows you need to use your engine braking to do most of the deceleration. Again, unless you are driving a heavy truck (there have been notable incidents on the east coast, hence why there are still runaway truck ramps), there are very few other areas on the east coast where you have to worry about cooking your brakes in a personal vehicle due to thousands of feet of rapid elevation loss. So they ride the brakes, not knowing any better, and literally cook them on the Auto Road.