Stephen Pope

Being too paranoid to take my scooby on the track, my brother and I are toying with the idea of buying a track car for track day use (and keeping my scooby as a road car of course!)

I have space up my driveway and so that is where I would park the car. We are of course then faced with the following quandry:

1. Buying a track car with no MOT, insurance or road tax which would then require me to get a trailer and tow bar for the car. To be honest, the car on the trailer up my drive would 'lower the tone' and I do not think my wife would be to enamoured. Not to mention the rear end of the scooby and asociated cost.

2. Buying a roadworthy car with MOT, insurance (3rd party only) and road tax. This has the benefit of being able to drive the car up to the circuit on the trackdays and also parking the car up the backof the driveway, un-noticed by most.

To be honest, I would probably prefer the second option however was wondering how the law works regarding towing of the type of car outlined under 1. above i.e. is it legal to tow an uninsured, untaxed and non-MOT'd car? By towing, I mean using a fixed bar.

Anyones views would be much appreciated (don't tell me to track my scooby!!!)

paulwrxboro

i think you need two wheels off the ground how about something like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/tow-dolly-car-...QQcmdZViewItem its not mine btw

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Well I do the same but with offroading. I usually do option two, but we drive up in convoy with a decent tow rope and the vehicle is fully legal, taxed and MOT'd

And basically it falls downs to: Do you feel lucky punk? well, do ya? (sorry )

YOu see doing option 2, first you need a vehicle you KNOW can take the abuse and not let you down. Second you need to drive as such on the track to keep it in a state that it can be driven home (refer to mechnaical sympathy)

Finally it lies down to how good you are at fixing stuff at the side of the road with you portable tool kit. Or knowing a good mate who'll rescue you. Or blagging to the AA that your car innocently broke down and you "happen" to be by a race track by pure coinicidence

Only once have I been stranded, and to frank, I'll never want to do it again...the starter jammed on the flywheel (internal brake on the motor disintergraded and pushed out the pinion gear). Could not start the engine without it due to it being a automatic gearbox. It p**sed it down with sleet and rain, subzero temps with wind chill - and there's me on top of a hill freezing my nadgers off trying to rebuild a starter motor with no feeling in my hands and verging on hypothermia.

.....we should have took the trailer

David_Dickson

I say get a trailer. I did the road-legal track car thing a while back and it worked out ok, but I was quite lucky. A breakdown at the track will leave you stranded. Ok, A tow home isnt the end of the world, but if you have an off and snap a wishbone or something, getting home is going to be very difficult. You also have the worry of whether your tyres will be road-legal at the end of the session.

On the other side, A road legal track car can provide good entertainment for a quick blast on the backroads, and also provides you with a spare car for use incase your main car needs repairs. Overall though, Id rather have a trailer.

Trailers arent cheap though. Secondhand ones on ebay are currently going for silly money and a new one wont leave you much change from thousand pounds. Plus the added cost of a towbar on the main car.

sti-04!!

Stephen,

If its knockhill then there is plenty of ways to get your car there.

I took up an old Xr4x4 on a one man tow, i took a 16v nova up with the same & no problems.

I just towed it with my old trusty L200 that i picked up at the market for £700 & i rebuilt the engine. Its an old L reg.

Kept it at my mates garage along with the cars & problem solved

astraboy

With my drift days this is big worry, however I've just secured an identical set of rims with plenty of tread off ebay for a ton.
This way you can have nice road rubber and have barely legal rubber for the track that you dont mind trashing and can happily wear down to the canvas and still drive home.
astraboy.

Stephen Pope

Yip, that's the chap!!!


A one man tow - I assume this is the single 'pole' that tows the car as shown in the second response above? If s, I take it these are legal?

Chip Sengravy

like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/A-FRAME-TOWING...QQcmdZViewItem

a lad i know uses one to tow a range rover, you wouldnt thnk they would work, and the steering wheels of the towed vehicle would just do thier own thing, but they are the business

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

The one in the 2nd reply is a tow dolly (front wheels off ground).


The single poles that go from the tow ball to the tow point on towed vehicle (all wheels on ground) MUST have a driver in the towed vehicle


An A-frame , can tow a car on all 4 wheels without a following driver. This requires custom permanent brackets to be fitted to the car being towed and heavier cars need brake modifications - so cannot tow "any" car - only ones that are modified to take the A-frame (although I have seen ones that can stap on. but look rather dubious ). Also UK police somtimes are unsure of their legality too.

looks like this: http://www.towtal.co.uk/aframe.asp


pfft, chip beat me to it

Stephen Pope

I like the look of the tow dolly - is it legal to tow and un-modified, uninsured, untaxed car using a tow dolly?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

A little note on A-frames and towing vehicles over 750kg:

AN A-FRAME IS NOT A LEGAL TOWING SYSTEM UNLESS THE LOAD IS UNDER 750KG (GVW), OR IT IS FITTED WITH A FULL BRAKING SYSTEM WHICH ADHERES TO ALL RELEVENT CRITERIA, AND THE SETUP MEETS ALL OTHER TOWING AND TRAILER REGULATIONS AND LEGISLATION. THE NTTA HAVE DECLARED THAT THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE. THE DFT HAVE DESCRIBED THIS AS ‘VERY DIFFICULT TO ACHIEVE’.

(apologies on captitals...it was a cut & paste - and I ain't re-writing it)


There are also similar legal considerations to be taken with dollies too (again, about weight/braking issues - I belive it is strictly only allowed to be used for recovery use).

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

A little note to be taken on legalities of tow dollies in relation to use and vehicle weight:



The necessary braking operation and efficiency on both the dollie wheels and the rear vehicles of the towed vehicle are unachievable. Similarly, the dollie would require comprehensive suspension.

Regulations 19 and 22 of The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations give exemption to recovery vehicles – hence the towing equipment of roadside recovery services such as the RAC and AA.

However, it is not acceptable to claim that you are recovering a vehicle if it is working order, and state officials in Britain and the continent are able (and willing) to inspect a towed vehicle to clarify whether this is the case. The Road Traffic Act reduces the speed limit of recovering vehicles to 20mph (on standard roads) and 40 mph (on dual carriageways and motorways).

Stephen Pope

Just bought a 205 GTI with 10 months MOT & 5 months road tax so that is part of the problem solved. I will simply get third party cover.

I am chuffed to bits as I only paid £500 (It was advertised at £1,000!!!) Gunmetal grey, 1.9 GTI engine, lowered etc (although registered as a 1.6 GTI)

Looked at a Corsa SRI first and to say chav would have been an insult to chavs!!!

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Good choice

Wouldn't touch a Corsa TBH - they don't handle (especially the early ones). And thus need ££££ spending on suspension to get them to handle properly.....A nova is a much better starting point than a corsa will ever be