Race-car trailer advice

Celluloid Retina · Postby **Celluloid Retina** » Wed May 28, 2014 8:00 pm

Hello race-fans,

The time has come for me to stop suckling on the teat of others kindness and get my own trailer. I was hoping to dip into the collective wisdom on this forum to see if people can give me some starting points because I have a few special requirements (incidently I did search the forum and wasn't able to dig up much).

The requirements go along the lines of: Lightish, smallish, cheapish and dual-axle.

Lightish: My girlfriend has buy in on the car we'll get to tow the race car and she has little to no interest in driving something suitable for the job. The biggest car she'll agree to (Subaru Liberty) has a braked towing limit of 1500kg. So with 1000kg of race-car and a few bits and bobs ideally the trailer needs to be at or less than 400kg. (So probably not full-deck etc.)

Smallish: For the foreseeable future i'm going to be living in the inner-city in an apartment block and probably going to be trying to rent a normal sized parking spot in the underground carpark - to park the trailer with the car on top. So the smaller the trailer can be (width and lengthwise) the better - within reason of course. I've seen 12x6ft mentioned, seems to be the smallest?

Cheapish: Well, around the $3000 mark would be ideal.

So I've started looking at several places online (having had some names mentioned to me), but before I went wasting my time with anywhere that was to be steered well clear of, I was hoping for a bit of collective wisdom about what might suit my needs. Real world experiences. I've checked out the websites of Elf, Sydney City, Mario etc. Has anyone got any recommendations or places to avoid (without getting a libel suit)? Or even just general advice, like i'm dreaming trying to get all of that for that price?

Thanks very much, all help appreciated!

Stu

zossy1 · Postby **zossy1** » Wed May 28, 2014 8:03 pm

The holy trinity of trailers.

You can probably have two of those things, but not three.

I have a "lightish, smallish, cheapish" trailer. It is not dual axle, but a single axle Tilta that I bought second hand for a similar price to what you quote.

A dual axle Tilta will probably push $4500+ second hand.

You can get a decent dual axle trailer for $3k but it won't necessarily be light.

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Wed May 28, 2014 8:22 pm

What gross weight are you after? A dual axel should be capable of over 2,000 kg and hence need dual brakes as well as a break away and thus really adds to the cost.

What height is the car you want to load? I can go as low as 80mm (at the splitter) on my trailer, but is a customised trailer, dual axel, 2,500 kg gross weight and not under $3k.

Celluloid Retina · Postby **Celluloid Retina** » Wed May 28, 2014 8:44 pm

Ummmm... the gross weight would need to be under the maximum braked towing limit for the car wouldn't it? So I guess 1500kg? Would a gross weight of 1500kg require a breakaway?

Yeah a dual-axle should carry more than the car is capable of, but I just thought that was the way to go because everyone said it was safer/more stable. I'm quite new to all this.

Stu

Celluloid Retina · Postby **Celluloid Retina** » Wed May 28, 2014 8:45 pm

Yeah Zossy, I hate it when reality gets in the way of a good plan!

greenltd · Postby **greenltd** » Wed May 28, 2014 8:53 pm

As a point of interest, my dual axle trailer with full floor weighs 750kg without the ramps. It's not a big trailer, an mx5 fits, but there's not a lot of room left.

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sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Wed May 28, 2014 8:55 pm

Mx5 plus was selling a single axle trailer with rams to raise /lower and the drawbar was detachable so it fitted into a standard garage. Might have been loadsafetrailers.com or similar?

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Celluloid Retina · Postby **Celluloid Retina** » Wed May 28, 2014 9:03 pm

750kg?

...we're gonna need a bigger boat.

I'm quietly hoping that's not typical.

greenMachine · Postby **greenMachine** » Wed May 28, 2014 9:19 pm

Not the Liberty, says someone on their third clutch ... do a search if you want to know more :cry:

I now tow with an old 6cyl Falcon ute.

My trailer is ~300kgs, two axles and cost around $2.2k iirc - no floor, I put a couple of ally planks down, used the ends as ramps, put a hand winch on it, so its probably is ~350-400kgs now.

The gear - wheels, tools, jack, axle stands, fuel and the rest of the crap probably weigh close to 100kgs - goes in the tray, keeping the trailer weight down.

BUT familiarize yourself with the concept of gross combination weight, putting this stuff in the tow car is not a get-out-of-jail-free card.

:mrgreen:

timk · Postby **timk** » Wed May 28, 2014 9:49 pm

I used to tow my MX-5 with a Forester GT and it was awesome. Great power and great brakes, plus 1800kg towing capacity. It's a smaller car than the Liberty too. I used a Tekonsha Prodigy P3 brake controller and the Loadsafe trailer mentioned above. You should send a message to 'BitRusty', he has one of these trailers and I think is putting together a few more.

Cheers

rascal · Postby **rascal** » Wed May 28, 2014 9:53 pm

Celluloid Retina wrote:So the smaller the trailer can be (width and lengthwise) the better - within reason of course. I've seen 12x6ft mentioned, seems to be the smallest?

10x6 works...

10x6.JPG

One like this is about 500kg empty, so would struggle to make it under your combined 1500kg total..

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Wed May 28, 2014 10:14 pm

Check out Exocet Australia.

https://www.facebook.com/ExocetAustrali ... n=timeline
400kg, twin axle, etc.....

Scroll down and there's something that might suit your needs...... :wink:

timk · Postby **timk** » Wed May 28, 2014 10:17 pm

I forgot to mention the Loadsafe one has a detachable draw bar so you can fit it in a normal garage. It weighs 350kg and has a single axle which in my opinion is preferable so the thing doesn't steer itself!

zossy1 · Postby **zossy1** » Wed May 28, 2014 10:27 pm

750kg empty is a pretty heavy car trailer!

My single axle Tilta is 300kg empty.

There is nothing wrong with a single axle trailer per se, you just have to ensure that they are loaded correctly. Mine only has overrun brakes but I'm towing it with a Colorado - I wouldn't be that comfortable towing overrun brakes with anything like a Liberty or similar sized car, though even then, it would be ok if you were careful. Even behind the Colorado, I don't tow the Tilta faster than 105kmh. Electric brakes would be fine even at a faster speed.

The single axle Tilta will not carry anything more than a 1200kg car (1500kg total weight). That's fine as my race car is a fair bit lighter than that.

david_syd_au · Postby **david_syd_au** » Wed May 28, 2014 10:32 pm

I suggest you only consider a singer axle trailer, as you don't need dual axles unless the gross weight is over 2 tonnes.
A single axle trailer will be cheaper to buy and maintain, lighter, and also a lot easier to maneuver.
A tilt trailer, or one which allows the tray to be lowered to the ground, also makes it easier to load and unload a race car. This I know from experience!