Trailer Plan

I am planning an 18' V nose trailer build, and they've asked where I want E-track, D-rings, lights, and the door. I've opted for a 4' door over the 32", so that's marked off on here. This will also be used for karting, so eventually I want to do cabinets up front, so I have keep room clear for that eventually. There's also a 4' beaver tail, so I figure the E-track has to be all-or-nothing on that. The trailer is aluminum (2100lbs, give or take), and the car's 1900lb CG is roughly 3' ahead of the rear axle of the car. Payload capacity of the truck is more of a limiting factor than towing capacity, so I am aiming for 11%-12% tongue weight. 15% would put me over. I'll be using an Andersen WDH since they are light, and I've heard good things about them. 

So do y'all mind checking my homework? Am I missing anything obvious or any tricks you've learned?

Make sure your D rings are pushed out to the corners as far as you can get them.  Longer tie straps are easy... too short is a problem.

E Track with over the tire straps is awesome, but the E-track has to be somewhat centered on the tire, and you need enough track sticking out for the tie down ratchet mechanism if the car is low.  Splitters can make this a PITA.   Example:

If you can do an escape hatch on the driver's side, DO IT.  It is 100% worth it, especially if you ever end up using it to haul a caged car.

Extra E-track or D rings can be really handy for tying down miscellaneous stuff (generator, jacks, pit bike, etc...) that goes to the track with you.  If I were doing it over, I would put an E-track rail the full length of each side about 24" off the floor.

Yeah, the E-track will be for karts sitting on rolling stands, and the D-rings for the car. The front of my car is low enough that I have already learned I cannot fit a ratchet under the nose, so the mounting point needs to be as far away as possible. Right now, the Ds are about 1' away from hard walls. This seems like a good, arbitrary clearance; do you think I should push them even closer to the edges? Up front, I want to make sure the Ds don't conflict with storage space. As I have drawn it, the front Ds are about 2' from the start of the Vee which is cutting it about as close as I'd like. 

I'm torn on the escape hatch. I've never heard anyone regret getting one, but I've already ran up about $5k in options (insulation, finished walls, AC frame, extra lighting, etc). Between a dog getting knee surgery and me buying a new kart, the hatch is an easy way to save a little money. If I go with a caged car in the future, I still want to stick with the Elige platform, and I need motivation to stay skinny as I approach middle age, haha. Eventually I will get a bigger truck and a bigger trailer, and that's probably when I'll do the hatch. 

With the drive on e-track, I would have concerns regarding race tires getting an impression from them.  I run transit wheels on the car I trailer, but have a ratchet over solution that is less potentially imprinting with a stop in front of the tire. 

Maybe not on your radar, but e-track on the walls allows good sleep in solutions as well. 

A few random thoughts:

- Escape hatches seem cool, but it assumes you have quite a bit of clearance on the side of the trailer.  This is often not the case in crowded paddocks or other trailer parking spaces, so you can't rely on being able to use it.  You need to make sure you can do whatever you need as far as car access even if the escape hatch is blocked.

- Downsides to an escape hatch are that there is a weak point in the trailer frame there, that it stops you from using that part of the wall for storage, and that it's more parts to go wrong if you don't need it.  I don't have one on my current trailer and would probably not spend extra to get one if I were replacing it.

- I don't know if your sketch is intended to be to scale, but you show a 12-and-a-bit foot long Elise with 4 feet behind it (labelled), and (if to scale), about 8 feet in front of it.  That adds up to 24 feet not 18?

- What are you doing with the Elise?  Autocross?  Track days?  Wheel-to-wheel racing?  18 feet isn't going to leave much room for tools, tires, spares, etc.

- I agree with Rodan about D-rings as far in the corner as you can get them and E-track on the walls.

- Tire rack on the passenger side wall above the car.

- Winch.  Every trailer should have a winch with a wireless remote.

- Make sure the trailer spare tire and tools to install (jack, wrench, etc) it are accessible without having to unload the car.

- Trailer TPMS and camera systems are awesome.

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

Good points. I had actually noticed the clearance issue last weekend looking at my friend's trailer with the escape hatch. Lack of storage on the hatch is okay though since that's assumed to be the driver side (unless you back in). 

Definitely already looking at a tire rack over the passenger side

The 4' label is to aft LED, not the rear bumper. Rear bumper is closer to 2.5', and the car is very nearly to scale. It gives me just over 3' before the 2' Vee. This gives me a lot more room than I need for my current setup, so while I'm certain I'll eventually outgrow it, it'll work for a while. 
 

Ironically, my limiting use case is karting, not track days. With karting, I'll have the family in the truck with snacks, water, gear, clothes, etc, and I'll run into max payload before max towing capacity. This trailer will suffice for a few years, and then I'm sure I'll change up the truck and trailer both to something bigger, especially if kid 2 takes up karting. At 3 1/2, she's already asking often when she'll be big enough, haha. 

cyow5 said:

Good points. I had actually noticed the clearance issue last weekend looking at my friend's trailer with the escape hatch. Lack of storage on the hatch is okay though since that's assumed to be the driver side (unless you back in). 

Since the Elise's engine is in the back, backing in might actually be something you want to do depending on how the tongue weight works out.

Ah, OK, the dimensions make more sense now.  I would suggest moving the car back so that there's only about 1 foot between it and the door -- just enough clearance that it's not going to rub if it shifts a bit.  Space in front of the car is much more useful for storage than space behind it, IME.

Backing the car in would definitely help with storage space, with the added benefit that having the low nose over the dove trail makes strapping easier. The downside is it's a huge pain to do especially if you don't have a helper to guide you. But I'd suspect that when you eventually get the cabinets in and inevitably load them up with stuff, the car will want to go in forward.

I was assuming that parking on the slope (4' beaver tail) was a no-no, is it not? If I go forward and park with the rear tires just barely past the slope, the CG of the car is pretty much between the trailer axles (car CG is about 3' ahead of the car's rear axle). On an open, steel trailer, this would not be enough tongue weight, but with the enclosed I am anticipating much more tongue weight from the storage towards the nose, and moving the car a few inches can get me dialed in. Car is only 1900lb, and the loaded trailer will be around 4,400lb, so how it's drawn should be pretty close. 

As it's drawn, I've only got 2' of dead space behind the car, so stuff like the canopy, gas, ramps, whatever can go there since they can come out first. Backing in, I'll need the front tires on the slope, and that won't leave a whole lot of room for straps. It will definitely help with clearing the splitter, but it'll still be tight. And the nose will probably scrape. The diffuser is aluminum, so it can take more scraping than the splitter. 

cyow5 said:

I was assuming that parking on the slope (4' beaver tail) was a no-no, is it not?

I don't see why?  You'll have to tie it down to prevent it from rolling away, but that's true anyway. 

Forwards vs backwards doesn't make much difference as far as scraping goes, the angle between the ramp and the ground is the same in either direction.  If you are going to load it backwards, you probably want to do it with a winch instead of trying to reverse in.

Securing stuff behind the car is tricky because there's no wall to strap it to.  It's also convenient to have the car be the last loaded/first unloaded -- it minimizes the delay between coming in from your last session and being able to hit the road, and if you use the trailer to transport the car anywhere other than the track (like a race shop) then it's a PITA to have to unload your canopy just to drop off the car.

Our trailer situation usually ends up with the rear tires just barely on the dove tail. It's a little annoying just because the extra desire for the car to roll back makes precision placement difficult, but otherwise doesn't cause any issues.

Storing stuff behind the car is a little inconvenient but not super difficult. Plus if you have mostly "soft" stuff you can just pack it in tight around the car and it won't move. For example we store our race ramps next to the car with a moving blanket stuffed between the ramps and the car.

Approach angle is the same forwards or back but you can play some games with loading direction. The ground is solid but a low car will usually require ramps, which will have an opening between them, and most cars fronts are pretty rounded with the most scraping print point in the center. Our cars scrape the front considerably more going in backwards because the bumper lip is riding the ground the whole way, where going in forwards it's in the open space between the race ramps most of the way and the only tight spot is the transition onto the door. (oops, should have gotten the longer ramps)

E-Track up high / Storage potential

As you add more weight to the nose with cabinets and tools, I agree with previous posts to add e-tracks up high.  This allows you to shift stored parts further back over the trailer axles or tail, to adjust tongue weight.  AND PAINT THOSE CROSS RAILS A BRIGHT ORANGE !!

Your Lotus sits so low (I have an '06), you have lots of unused space ABOVE it.  Take your packing list and determine what can go up, and what needs to stay on the floor.

A nod to multiple D-rings as far out to the sides as possible.