Flat towing or tow dolly: Crazy idea?

Pretty much as the title says. Would it be crazy to consider hauling a (RWD, manual tranny) racecar on a tow dolly?

Ive seen production based road race and ice race cars up here done with both.

Josh Sennett (bluej) flat-tows his e30 rallycross car to events, no problem. Dolly and flat tow are only a problem when you break something on the suspension/hub, really. If it an actual RACE car (vice an autocross or trackday car), there's probably the chance of that happening at some point.....

My experience with tow dolly’s has been pretty bad. I’d rather flat tow. 

My experience with flat towing has been pretty bad.  I'd rather dolly tow.

My experience with both have been pretty good but flat towing is easier

I guess I was worried about potential damage to the drivetrain. Is it safe to just put it in neutral?

In reply to LanEvo :

Pull the driveshaft?

Most manual gear boxes are fine being towed in neutral.  If they're splash lubed by the countershaft they're fine.

I prefer a tow dolly with surge brakes.  It doesn't take much weight on a tow hitch to push you around sideways in an emergency braking situation.

Ive been wondering the same thing with my challenge car miata using a gm t5

I think flat tow is the way to go for local events. 

My experiences with both have been awful. Good luck backing up (which, as much as you may plan on not having to do, you WILL have to do at some point.)

Also, cops don’t seem to be big fans of flat-towing.

Someone, somewhere in your area has a cheap trailer they need out of their yard...or one you can borrow. 

Tow dollies are great.  The only real downside is you can't back 'em.  As long as you plan around that you're good.  The real benefit to them is you don't put a lot of tongue weight on the tow vehicle.  And compared to flat towing, there's no need to modify the vehicle being towed.  

I have a flat trailer, and a buddy has a dolly.  I'd say I've borrowed his dolly as many times as I've used my trailer.  My Volvo 240 can tow another Volvo on a dolly easily.  It'll just barely move my car trailer, empty.  

I've flat towed and used a dolly but the car was very light so braking was not an issue with either method. I later got a trailer as I had a few at track break downs that prevented me from flat towing the car and the dolly I was using, which wasn't mine (borrowed) was not available any more. As mentioned a RWD manual trans car can be towed in neutral without removing the driveshaft, even a FWD car with a manual trans can be flat towed as that's what I towed.

I have done both the problem with a tow dolly is moving the thing and storing it. The way around the main problem with a flat tow is to use a Brake Buddy. A bit expensive but worth having.

I would disconnect the driveshaft for a manual transmission. When you are towing, the mainshaft turns with the driveshaft, but the countershaft and gears do not turn, so the countershaft isn't splashing lube onto the mainshaft, which is above the lube level in the transmission.

Some states require that vehicles being flat or dolly towed be registered, so that could be a problem with racecars.

I'm a big fan of flat towing. But never seriously done it with a RWD. I plan to build my race car such that there are easy tow bar mounts up front and a wiring connector that plugs into the racecar harness to run the taillights as the tow lights. I used to have a big flat trailer. It was always such a production.

I hate hate hate maintaining trailers and tow dollies. I know they don't need that much, but man when they do it sucks.

If you break a critical suspension piece, trailers are always available for rent.

I am a flat tow fan. All the above advice is valid. Weigh your pros and cons and go for it.

Check the RV sites for info on which trans are safe in neutral. Not all manuals are.

I've been using a tow dolly lately. It's pretty nice, and I can't even feel it behind the truck.

advantages

• When I get to the track and unload the car you can literally move your trailer by hand.
• A heavy tow dolly weighs in at ~700lbs, the nice ones seem to be around ~500lbs
• They can come brakes

disadvantages

• tire wear - I swap on some spares on the rear - a bit annoying
• can't back up with it attached - gotta plan ahead
• For the uhauls ones at least - they're loud - the ramps and such rattle constantly. The nicer ones probably don't have that problem.

   
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zWn88Y6NVORweG603

and

Im a tow dolly man myself. 

I've had some friends flat tow their 944 Spec cars without issue. 

What's the goal here?  The towed car needs to be licensed for the street to flat tow/dolly it.  Neither allow you to get the car home if you break it at the track.  Neither allow you to bring spares/wheels easily.

If the goal is just to drive to the track in a much more comfortable vehicle, then WIN!  Otherwise an open trailer is a much better choice...

Just curious here, can you get those small dollies the tow trucks use to get all 4 wheels off of the ground (for towing AWD cars)? That would solve the transmission issues and still be a lightweight setup.

Adam

In reply to adam525i :

I'm not sure those are for towing longer distances, more for emergency towing (illegal parking - city towing), but maybe someone in the know will chime in. I don't think I'd want to be going interstate speeds (or close to that) on the one's I've seen - might be selling them short though.

I plan on getting a dolly when replacing the Xb with an Element, the element will then be able to handle towing the 323 utilizing the dolly without stressing the brakes as much. 

FWIW, I know of two people who dolly tow Miatas extensively and they never pulled the driveshaft that I've been aware of.

I know that if I tried that, I'd get exactly 30 miles outside of city limits before the transmission seized up...

If a farmer can back up a wagon,  why can't you back a dolly/car ?