WWGRMD- Tow or Legalize Racecar?

Dear GRM Hivemind,

Due to unforseen title circumstances, my new rallycross car cannot be registered for street use without a specialty inspection- let's put a number on passing that, ~$1k, the car needs a lot to get it to that level of legality. I then would drive said vehicle to events about 4-5 hours away. The original plan (prior to title issue) was to do this for a few months and save to buy a tow vehicle and trailer capable of being used for years to come.

The new alternative plan is to buy a tow vehicle and trailer now, and either slowly or never street legalize the car. Budget for towing setup at this moment would be ~$3k for everything.

Keeping in mind that I have about 4 weeks to execute any plan, give me your votes:

Plan A- Legalize car, drive to events. It has not been street driven in roughly 10 years, and this plan most likely gives no time to determine its' reliability prior to the 1st event.

Plan B- Purchase vehicle and trailer on $3k budget, trailer car to events. I'm leaning towards good trailer, crappy vehicle, and plan to replace vehicle as budget allows.

Plan C- A and B both suck, find some other way to get car to and from 1st event, or rallycross something else for the 1st event (losing valuable test and tune time), giving myself an extra month to come up with a better solution.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Plan B or C, I would probably go with B. If you get a good trailer for ~$2k and a crappy truck for $1k you could likely resell the truck for the same amount when you want to upgrade.

Or buy a good tow vehicle and rent a trailer for the first event. That way you avoid the cost of title/tax on a truck you aren't planning to keep long.

Getting into a accident on the street with a caged car without a helmet sounds like a death ride. How about Plan D and borrow tow vehicle and trailer from a friend

You can always find more reasons to have a tow rig.

I've been there. I basically went with B, but borrowed a dolly or rented a trailer. You'll never recoup the $1k spent to legalize the car and it will waste valuable time doing so.

If the events were closer, I'd want the car street-legal. Sometimes it's just too much of a PITA to tow. I like being able to jump in my car to run at the local track.

But for 4-5 hours away, I'd tow for sure.

Buy a dual axle open trailer with a dovetail and electric brakes.

Buy your own hitch yolk and ball.

Rent this and don't tell them you plan to tow with it: http://www.enterprisetrucks.com/truckrental/en_US/vehicles/pickup-trucks/OneTon4WDPickupTruck-personal.html

As stated, tow rig was the eventual plan anyway- I just hoped to be able to save for another 6 months or so first. I agree that racecar on the street is a bit of a death trap, but I commute on a motorcycle so I'm no stranger to an accident having serious consequences. I drove the same distance to events with a different and less radical car last year, and it bit me in the ass more than once.

I found a mint condition 1986 Caprice wagon with a class 3 hitch and rear airbags locally- how bad an idea would it be? In my price range I'm pretty much seeing that or a bunch of frighteningly rusty trucks.

+1 for what EvanB said, plan B. GPS had a good idea too that might let you save up for a good tow vehicle.

I'd go for buy decent tow vehicle and rent trailer. I've spent anywhere from $60 (dolly) to $180 (trailer) in rentals for a complete weekend. It would take quite a few weekends a year for trailer ownership to make sense.

I'm with Cone Junkie. Spend the $3k on a decent tow vehicle. That should get you a decent Suburban. I doubt I'd use the Caprice wagon, it likely wouldn't have the suspension, etc...to handle serious towing. Then rent a tow dolly or open trailer as needed.

Don't rent from ERAC or someone else and hide the fact that you're going to tow with it. If you get into an accident with it, you're berkeleyed big time.

You could always rent a tow vehicle until you've saved up enough to buy one. Although the Caprice sounds like it's fairly capable if the car is pretty light.

F) find someone with a tow rig and trailer to dual enter with you, if nobody has a trailer but someone has a truck see about using their truck and splitting cost cost of renting a trailer or dolly.

Buy the truck first, rent dolly until you can buy a dolly or trailer. I see used dollies pop up on CL in the 500 dollar range, you have to be quick on the draw to get them though.

I vote for buy a good tow vehicle (pickup or wagon) and rent a dolly/trailer. The tow vehicle will come in handy all the time for picking up parts or trips to the dump...

Do you have room to store your tow vehicle and trailer on your property? I don't. That's why I went the street legal route with my M3 build.

Storage space is not a concern- I hadn't considered buying half of the equation and renting the other, thanks for the suggestion.

Depending on the car, a tow bar might be an option, and if so nearly anything could tow it.

Also depending on the car you might not necessarily need a huge trailer, or huge tow vehicle. Lots of lightweight race cars go to events on trailers that started out as campers or with boats on them.

Cone_Junkie wrote: I'd go for buy decent tow vehicle and rent trailer. I've spent anywhere from $60 (dolly) to $180 (trailer) in rentals for a complete weekend. It would take quite a few weekends a year for trailer ownership to make sense.

I third of 4th this. That's what I did waaaaay waaay back with my Miata for distante autocross events and Nationals. I bought a nice used Conversion van and borrowed a tow dolly. That van lasted me for years, and unlike a pick up it had real practicality. I folded down the rear bench seat int oa bed and slept there for NAtionals then used the shower in someone elses hotel room each morning. It saved me a fortune in hotel bills.

But back to your car. What are the issues with getting a plate on your car? I take it your in one of those places than needs an inspection?

Try rout F, move to a civilized state Plate car and drive

I was planning on that, but for some reason despite the clean MD title PA has the car flagged as totaled, so I can only have a salvage certificate unless I get it inspected as "reconstructed." The car is a fox chassis mustang, and weighs about 2600 lbs.

I have friends that have gone the tow bar route to great success. It was cheap, takes moments to install and has allowed them to focus more on the car than towing solutions. Additionally, they seem to be able to find someone willing to tow for a free double entry.

I'd spend the money on a tow rig now, and rent/borrow trailers until you can afford one. There always seems to be someone with a trailer available when we need one to tow the Lemons/Chump car. We (the Chump guys)are looking around for trailers now, and there is not much quality in sub-$3k trailers around here, unless you buy a really heavy homebuilt or something. But you'll want brakes and tandem axle, so you're looking $3k or so at least for that alone based on what I've found within 100 miles of us (may be different up near you)

I am disappointed to hear that the stang is 2600lbs. I had hoped to have a little more weight wiggle room against you condering you're at least double my horsepower....lol.

Spend enough on the tow rig to make sure IT is reliable. Because if you don't get to the event in the first place, it doesn't much matter if your rallycross car is reliable or fast or whatnot.

Else, I would say find an old minivan (Chrysler triplets can be found cheap with the V6) and a dolly (which you can then sell when you have the money for a decent trailer).

Yeah, trust me...now that our events are farther out (3+ hours for me) the thought has crossed my mind to get a trailer too....though I have no place to put one.

Tow rig suggestion:

Isuzu Trooper....solid, can tow decent, and pretty cheap. They seem to be a GRM favorite when this question comes up. Don't recall how close to Philly you are, but there are several there that could be worth it:

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/4295507328.html

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/4280209440.html

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/4296781138.html

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/cto/4328204289.html

Check out your local Uhaul or trailer place and look into renting a trailer. I rented for 2 years and it served me well.

+1 on the good tow rig with tow bars. Once you're setup with the mounts on the bumper, it can be a 15 minute install/hookup if you access to the fastener from the rear (inside the bumper) or a 3 minute hookup if you leave the bumper mounts in place.

Tow dolly or bars are out as far as I'm concerned... the T5 in the mustang has been reported to really not like being spun in neutral. Dual axle trailers w/ brakes are more like $1.5-2k here, so good trailer/crappy vehicle is still on the list if I can find something cheap that gives me the warm fuzzies. The Caprice's owner says he tows with it regularly, I'll drive it and only buy if it feels super solid. Otherwise, I think the answer is good tow vehicle and Uhaul trailer for now.