Trailer advice

[edb49]

I'm in the fortunate position of taking delivery of a Caterham in the next couple of weeks, and I'm just starting to think about trailers, tow bars, etc. My main use of the car will be track days.

Tow car is a BMW 335d Touring.... so cliched I know! I've done some Googling and it can do 695kg unbraked and 1500kg braked towing I believe.

So from the sounds of it I will need a trailer - I am guess 550kg for the car, 300kg for the trailer, then maybe 100kg for tyres and other bits that will get loaded up... 950kg total.

Can anyone make a recommendation of trailers? I've had a look at Brian James but I can't work out which ones are braked and which are unbraked. It would be absolutely ideal if the trailer could double as a utility thing that I could take fridges etc to the dump in too.

[Tango7]

A Brian James minno or clubman trailer will be absolutely fine. A basic minno is around £900-1000 dependant on age and condition. Add £100-150 for one with high level tyre rack (carries upto 8 13" wheels) and possibly a lockable box. I would go for one with extended ramps as this helps when the ground clearance on the car is so low. To carry stuff to the tip, get one with an enclosed deck. Don't forget that if you want to insure it (Competition Car Insurance and Richard Eggar Insurance offer a good deal), you will need two separate insurance approved locks fitted of which one can be the tow hitch lock.

BJ minno trailers are excellent buys and hold their money really well if buying 2nd hand. Here's one on Blatchat which would fit the bill nicely and has the integrated ramps which use a lot easier especially if you intend to park the car on the trailer in a garage.

http://www.blatchat.com/t.asp?id=177370&pn=1&a...

HTH

[edb49]

Thanks for the advice... will have a look out for one of those.

[SimonY]

Also look at PRG Trailers Minisport / Minisporter(covered). PRG have converted our truck and covered one of our trailers and I would thoroughly recommend them. Found them a bit more flexible and better to deal with than Brian James.

http://www.prgtrailers.co.uk/

[casbar]

I've had a BJ Mino for about 3 years now, its a really good bit of kit. Mines got a folding tow bar, so I can have a bit more room in the garage. The car lives on it.

The mino max, which I believe replaces the mino, has 12" wheels which I have heard tows a little better than the mino with 10" wheels. That said, mine tows fine at legal speed limits

Forgot to mention, if your Cat is a S3 it will fit a mino, if its an SV, then it won't go on a mino.

Edited by casbar on Friday 2nd October 13:58

[edb49]

Cool - my Cat is an S3 so I'm OK. I'm going to measure the garage tonight to make sure it will fit in, I've spoken to someone at Brian James today about lead times etc.

[dreamer75]

Remember when they're talking about weights they don't mean the actual weight, they mean the max allowable mass i.e. the maximum it can possibly weigh.

So if the car is 500kg's and the trailer is 1000kg's, you're not working off 1500kg's, but whatever the max weigt of the trailer can be.