Trailering an Elise

[AdrianR]

What's the best small trailer for carrying an Elise? Brian James do the Minno, or there's the PRG Minisport which looks like it might fit.

Anyone used either of these, or recommend something similar?

Thanks,
AdrianR

[Cuzza]

It won't fit on a Minno - look at the Clubman series or the A series from Brian James.

Whatever you buy, reverse the car onto it!

[Scuffers]

Cuzza said:

It won't fit on a Minno - look at the Clubman series or the A series from Brian James.

Whatever you buy, reverse the car onto it!

as said, else will not fit on a Minno - they are too narrow for the wheel-base.

as for load it backwards, what's that about? dragging a car against the direction intended can be interesting....

[kambites]

Scuffers said:

as for load it backwards, what's that about? dragging a car against the direction intended can be interesting....

Weight balance thing I assume. There would have to be something serious wrong with a car for it to object to being towed backwards a few meters.

[tricky 100]

When trailering a car you must always have the engine (main wieght ) between the tow vehicle and the trailer wheels to avoid fish tailing .
Been there , very scary !!

[Scuffers]

tricky 100 said:

When trailering a car you must always have the engine (main wieght ) between the tow vehicle and the trailer wheels to avoid fish tailing .
Been there , very scary !!

yes, then get a trailer so that you can do this forwards then!

hitch should be ~50-80Kg's heavy or as said, stability get's kind of interesting!

14" long trailer is easily long enough to manage this forwards... (I used to have a 16" one and used the first 2" for tyres etc, then the car, and it was still very much nose heavy)

[Cuzza]

Scuffers said:

Cuzza said:

It won't fit on a Minno - look at the Clubman series or the A series from Brian James.

Whatever you buy, reverse the car onto it!

as said, else will not fit on a Minno - they are too narrow for the wheel-base.

as for load it backwards, what's that about? dragging a car against the direction intended can be interesting....

Thinking about the balance if it's a small trailer, the Minno is OK lengthwise but the width is the killer with Elises (think I read somewhere that swapping front and rear wheels makes it fit but only just and it's a right PITA), I was thinking something like a 12' Clubman would fit the car on but I doubt you'd get a decent noseweight. Like you say a longer trailer negates the problem.

I suppose towing an Elise backwards would craete extra drag but with a big tow car directly in front that'd surely be pretty minimal

[Scuffers]

Cuzza said:

Scuffers said:

Cuzza said:

It won't fit on a Minno - look at the Clubman series or the A series from Brian James.

Whatever you buy, reverse the car onto it!

as said, else will not fit on a Minno - they are too narrow for the wheel-base.

as for load it backwards, what's that about? dragging a car against the direction intended can be interesting....

Thinking about the balance if it's a small trailer, the Minno is OK lengthwise but the width is the killer with Elises (think I read somewhere that swapping front and rear wheels makes it fit but only just and it's a right PITA), I was thinking something like a 12' Clubman would fit the car on but I doubt you'd get a decent noseweight. Like you say a longer trailer negates the problem.

I suppose towing an Elise backwards would craete extra drag but with a big tow car directly in front that'd surely be pretty minimal

sod the tow car, think about the Elise, soft tops don't like it for starters, hard top is not much better either...

[Cuzza]

Hmmm - fair point, hadn't thought about the roof situation. Although I've seen them towed backwards to trackdays etc with seemingly no ill effects.

[Thorburn]

Could tow it with the roof off

[TTwiggy]

pardon my ignorance, but surely the whole point of the Elise is that you drive it to and from the track?...

[AdrianR]

Good advice there - must admit the only time I did tow a rear engined car it was loaded backwards for nose weight reasons.

I suppose one could always make a ballast tank, or put 2 or 3 jerry cans in a rack up front.

AdrianR