[TrakCar]

I was watching Nascar the other day and started thinking about the fancy pit boxes all the teams have. I've been tossing around the idea of getting a small trailer to haul behind my car when I drive to open track days, big car shows, and auto-x events. So now I'm considering building or adapting a small utility (4x6) trailer as a "track day trailer"

4x6 utility trailer
provisions to mount track rims
jack
Tool box
Chairs
EZ up
Cooler/ grill (I have one of those fire and Ice things they sold a couple years ago)
Air tank
etc
etc

I'm also probably looking at selling my truck since It sits 90% of the time at $4.00 per gallon, so the trailer would also see use as the "Home maintenance and Lowe's trip" trailer, and possibly to haul a 4 wheeler.

So has anyone else done something like this? Post descriptions, Pictures, and lessons learned if you have.

Thanks

[z28tt]

It all comes down to how confident you are about your car. For autox (which is much gentler on the car, but not the driver!), a tire trailer seems like a great way to cut costs. If you've worked the bugs out of the car, and the drivetrain is reliable, then the major worry is crash damage, which I would guess for most folks is a remote possibility (and then begging a tow/trailer from a friend for the ride home is still cheap compared to the repair). I've been wanting to drive the Camaro to events, instead of towing with the Durango R/T (4wd, 5.9 gas, 3.91 gears) at 11 mpg / 70 mph. Bumping it to 80+ drops mileage to 9 mpg, while the Camaro gets over 20, even with the 8.1:1 turbo motor (thank you T56 .50 6th gear!). A friend broke down in MD on the way to NFME Memphis last month, and we unloaded the Camaro in a Walmart parking lot at 3am, loaded up his TransAm, and then continued on the way, with me driving the Camaro, and Mark trailering his TA with the Durango. 850 miles later, we arrived, and I was confident in the camaro, with the flawless drive down (it's the most I've driven it in years!). After the 1st track session (in the wet, mind you!), I went to put it in reverse in the paddock, and found it wasn't there. The mainshaft roller bearing had wiped itself out, along with the reverse gear needle bearing and synchro, so I was thankful I had a trailer to drive back with.

Last year at Watkins Glen - broke the spare T56, had to trailer home 300 miles. Before that, cracked both front rotors very hugely at WGI during the last session of the weekend, and just loaded it up on the trailer, instead of staying overnight Sunday to wait for Napa to open on Monday, wrenching, and missing a day of work.

The other benefit of the trailer is you can load the car up at home at your leisure with the brakes bled, race pads on, race tires mounted, and just roll it off at the track, ready to go. With the tire trailer, you'll be wrenching first thing in the morning and unpacking the car at the track. If it rains, then it really sucks!

My thoughts - if you don't push it to the limit AND your car is reliable (i.e. you don't need to do any maintenance above brake pads/fluid at the track), then the tire trailer seems to make sense. If you think there's a chance of something going wrong, and you've relied on the trailer in the past to get home, I'd suck up the extra hundreds in fuel cost, and keep using it. My wife would love if I got rid of the open trailer parked next to the house, rid of the Durango, rid of the Camaro, and traded it all in on a C5 Z06 that I drove to events, but I'll keep refining the Camaro until it's more streetable again. Either that, or sell it all and build a Factory Five Cobra (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

A.

This post has been edited by z28tt: Jun 11 2008, 01:24 PM

[mitchntx]

For autox (which is much gentler on the car, but not the driver!)

I'm not so sure about that ... I've heard hits on a rev limiter at an AX more time than I ever hear or see at a road course.

I will grant that DE carnage is becoming all too common. A local DE group is taking notice and re-vamping it's instructor criteria and it's run group advancement criteria. I think it's a step in the right direction. WtoW racing is another story altogether. Safety requirements in of itself many times promotes a platform out of class, rendering it uncompetitive.

To keep the subject on topic ...

There was a group of us, maybe 7 or 8 at one time, that attended DE runs at local road courses. By local, within 4 hours of home. We had an agreement that if a car got hurt, a non-hurt car would get towed home while the normally towed car would be driven as not everyone had a trailer.

There were only 2 or 3 of the group that did. And only once in 3 or 4 years did that option ever have to be excercised.

Carnage is always a possibility. But the liklihood is remote if your car is well maintained and prepared.

Another way of looking at it is a $500 tow fee once every 3 years is a LOT cheaper than a $3000 trailer, $20,000 truck and the storage space to park them.