Info on Race Car Trailer

Haulmark makes basic trailers with ok build quality; years ago I paid $10k for a 24 foot enclosed Haulmark trailer with all sorts of goodies: generator, winch, a/c and heat, electric tongue jack, extra lights and outlets, three doors, diamondplate floor, lower and upper cabinets, etc etc. Didn't get the exterior awning or lights that many folks enjoy. I think the a/c is a waste, but the generator can be great to have for a lot of reasons, from coffee in the morning to recharging radio batteries to light in the evening ....

The Haulmark's been fine, but if cost is not an issue, I'd go with Featherlite, or perhaps Trailex (?), or one of the custom shops, who make top of the line, lightweight units - I'd gess high teens to do it right.

Used trailers generally can be had for a song, and they're out there.

What is your tow vehicle? What length trailer do you want? The longer the trailer, the more challenging fuel and other stops become. I'd stick to 22 or 24'. On the other hand, if I had a slightly longer trailer, I could take an extra small car for local commuting. If you want to take a pit vehicle, such as a golf kart, I'd imagine it will be tough with cabinets and less than 26' - but maybe someone else will chime in on that.

 

We've been using these for years for spare cars and parts, bikes, pit carts etc. with great success.

http://www.tpdtrailers.com/

I can highly recommend them. (No, I don't work for them)
Regional SCCA etc motorsport forums ususally have a few used ones for sale too.

Good luck.

 

Now I went the used route but with a lot of the same equipment he's listed. I can tell you that mine is not nearly as deluxe though. Yes I have A/C. It's a wall unit stuck in the front of the trailer. It works but unit is too small to do the entire trailer. I've used it once in 2 years.

The lights inside and outside are very helpful.

I have a generator but it's portable and noisey so I locate mine away from the trailer (next to yours!) with a 30 ft heavy duty cable.

I just bought a 12VDC=>120VAC inverter and boy I wish I'd done that years ago. It's nice for short term lighter tasks and is much quicker than the whole generator thing.

Organized, secured storage is a big requirement. I'd reccomend that you look at what some other guys have done. I got a lot of good inexpensive ideas from others at the track. You can always just hand over your wallet to Pitpal and make things easier on yourself.

I bought an older trailer and ended up putting new axles on it 1.5 years later. There is maintenance involved whe n you run a trailer.

The trouble with the older trailers is they are heavy and that reduces your potential payload.

MY trailer was $3,500 with diamond plate, cabinets, lights, winch, 3 doors and industrial carpeting inside. It needed work though. It's basically just a good functional trailer, not pretty. I'm sure I can sell it for what I paid for it when I'm done with this episode of insanity.

BTW, the 3rd door was usefull only for ventilation as on my Haulmark the sill was too high for the driver door to clear. I use the winch.

The Featherlight trailers are expensive but you can haul more with less of a tow vehicle so you may save some on gas but it would be a long time to make up the difference in purchase cost.

I have a 24ft with cabinets in the front and I haul a small M3 sized car. I also have a generator, gas cans, spare tire, extra tires and air compressor. With all that there's not enough room to haul a pit vehicle as well.

You'll need a stout tow vehicle as well. I'm guessing you will be towing 6500-7000 lbs.

There's one perspective.

Bob S.

 

Bob, great post, where were you when I bought mine? There are so many great used trailers, if I had it to do over again, I'd look there first. New trailers seem to depreciate hard and fast.

Also, Bob's point about hauling extra stuff is critical - I end up taking a lot - 4 to 8 spare wheels, the trailer spare, a floor jack, a decent sized tool box, several gas jugs, jack stands, air bottle and so on.

Keep in mind, though, that I'm racing, not just doing track days. For track days, I don't need nearly as much room.

I'd rather have an air compressor than a/c. If you have a/c, you really have to use plastic sheeting to seal the doors & keep the cool air in.

 

Those guys have some pretty good advice. I use a 20' Carmate trailer to haul a vintage sports car around and it has good extra space for tools, generator, wheels, etc. Your 348 is probably a foot or two longer than my car, which is about the size of a Sprite, so you might think 22' or longer depending on your requirements.

The only advice I would add is to make sure that there is enough clearance on the sides (over the trailer's wheelboxes) so that you can open the door of your 348 to get in and out easily.

You can save a lot of money by buying used, but you have to be a bit flexible on your accessory requirements. A lot of people really load them up and that just means that you get them for a discount or even free in the bargaining.

Good luck

John

 

John,

I purchased an enclosed car hauler last year to move from Portland, OR to Atlanta, GA. I planned on it to work with my (future) Mondial cabriolet (wheel well height, ramp angle, etc) but things have changed so I'm planning to sell it.

PM / email me if you're interested to chat about it.

High level details:

* 2004 Interstate Supercoach Car Carrier
* 28 feet long (I was shopping for 24 footers and found this and thought the "extra" 4 feet at the front would make an awesome lounge / workbench area
* 10k GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating)
* Trailer is 4k lbs which leaves cargo capacity of 6k lbs
* White exterior
* Plywood interior (finish it how you like)
* Interior lights, ceiling vents (sized to drop in a rooftop mounted A/C)
* 48 inch side man door (sorry ladies, that's what the salesman called it)

Here's a link to the Interstate web site about this model:

http://www.interstatecargo.com/trailers/auto/supercoach/default.aspx

I also have pics I can email. If others are interested to see what I'm offering and some of the features I was looking for, I'd be happy to post them here if there are no objections.

I know this is not Ferrariads but I found that trailer shopping takes a bit of an education.

Mike

 

I used a featherlinght 28' for years, also a wells cargo and a haulmark gooseneck when I was racing in the 90's.

For my money there is no better built trailer than the featherlight. All were stored outside the race shop, the featherlight was dry and critter proof. Can't say that about the others.

The wells cargo was a '26 and the featherlight was close to 600 lbs lighter even though it was longer. The haulmark was shoddy by comparison to either of these.

I do think that all trailers are better now than they were then-

 

The cost vs weight saving of the featherlight is not justified unless you find a deal on a used one.
I bought the largest mid quality double axle trailer I could find for the extra space it affords 26'. Your going to need a large tow vechicle in any case. I use an Armada, the Diesel Excursion was my other choice or a 3/4 ton pickup or better.
I bought a used trailer in excellent shape, AC, Awning, cabinets installed.The AC and awning are not needed even in TX. Get a pop-up type awning or two. If you buy used right you get all or most of your money back.
Lots of people customize their trailers and they look great but I use mine to haul **** around.

 

If basic is what you want, you can't go wrong with Haulmark. I just purchased one for transporting the fleet around (2 360s, a ContiGT, a 911TT, and a Gallardo), and I ended up spending a tad over $8500 for a 20' Haulmark.

Just the basics in mine (lights, checkerboard flooring, white interior walls), and the KEY, in my opinion, is to get a trailer that has the lowest possible ground clearance and the longest possible ramp, to avoid having to use wood blocks to load & unload every time -- a major time sink.

I got the Elite II, which is one of the race trailer series (20" high vs. 22" for the standard car hauler), and a 48" reinforced ramp-door extension. All the cars clear just fine, so loading and unloading is a snap.

Also, if you're looking for something a bit higher quality, check out ATC (Aluminum Trailer Company) -- they'll custom-build an all-aluminum unit for you, and from what I've seen the quality is terrific (but at a price -- about 50% higher than an equivalent Haulmark).

nlh

 

If you want basic buy the rest. If you want the best, like your car, then buy mine. I can build anything you want. I can also build you a tow vehicle if you like.
for my trailers check here www.aluminumtrailer.com and for tow vehicle check here www.CenturyCustomCoach.com. if you put a configuration together on aluminumtrailer.com copy it and email to me for special fchat pricing at [email protected].

And yes aluminum DOES make a huge difference in many ways.

 

I bought a Continental Cargo 24' Race car trailer with rear ramp door, right side door, interior lighting, plywood interior walls and floor, tie down hooks, in white with torsion axles and electric brakes brand new out the door for $4300.

The vendor is Shroyer's Trailer Sales of Urbana, OH; probably the best trailer dealer I have dealt with in 30 years of towing. Honest, low prices, great maintenance shop. No commercial interest, just that I believe in promoting businesses that work the old fashioned way. I spend another couple of hundred bucks on the equalizing hitch and hardware for my Yukon XL. Towed a Ferrari 330 GT 1500 miles with it and no problems.

 

My first trailer was a Haulmark 24' tag trailer was "ok" but a little big for what you are describing. If you are just going to use it occationally you probably could do with a 20' trailer. That will be much easier to manuever around in the pits and smaller parking lots. 2 years ago I went to a 42' gooseneck trailer from Pace with 22' for the car section and used the 20' in front for living quarters with 2 single beds, couch, shower/toilet, and kitchen. This allows me to stay at the track but to be honest I think I would rather have a 22' trailer and stay in a motel. With the 22' I can have my generator, 2 roll away tool chests, small ATV and room for spares. I also had the dragster option in which the floor slopes down at the back and there is an extension on the beaver tail door that allows me to drive the car in without hitting the nose or belly pan since some of my cars have only a 1" ride height. I also used E and D track for the floors and side walls with some rails like the moving trucks use for tie downs and holding spare tires/rims. The living quarters makes it nice to get out of the weather. I thought it might make my family more likely to come to the track with me but they still don't like to much (my wife sarcastically tells me there is nothing she would rather do than camp out in the middle of an asphalt patch). My suggestion would be that you go to a SCCA race, walk around and talk tow owners and take pictures of the the different set ups to see what would suit your own needs best. As far as aluminum goes, unless your getting a good deal I personally don't think it is worth the extra money. Although it probably is not applicable in your situation, I have been told that with heavier use the aluminum trailers fatique sooner (a guy at Featherlite told me this). With the cost of diesel and gas now I guess one might think a little harder about it but in the long run I don't know how much you really are going to save with the weight difference as an occational user. No offense to the trailer builder above.....

 

Will

I was probably going through the same experience at the same time so I wouldn't have been much help. The heavy Haulmark is the biggest mistake I made but then it was a whole lot less money and it had most of what I was looking for.

I visited the Haulmark factory in Macadoo??? Penn. to get some parts. Most didn't fit because my trailer was too old.
Once you visit their factory you won't buy one of their new ones. They looked a lot more shoddy than mine.

I go to track days very well prepared carrying a lot of tools/supplies since the sponsor dealership Like FOW or Classic Coach is usually very busy will all their regular customers.

This last event at Summit Point I needed two special thin wrenches and FOW was great about loaning them to me.

Bob S.

 

Lots of good info here. I have a Haulmark 24' Elite II that has about 250,000 miles on it. I pull it with a Chevy Silverado Dually (Duramax/Allison) and I can tell you I have to look back sometimes to make sure the trailer is still there because it rides so smooth and rarely wavers.

I've transported everything from a 5,600 lb. Bentley Continental GT to numerous 360 Modenas and Vipers to Will's (WCH) 1958 Vespa and they all pulled great. I think the key is to properly size the tow vehicle.

 

I mounted a generator on the tongue of my trailer and an A/C unit on top, so I can run it as I drive on those hot 90+ degree summer days in the mid-West (I notice you are in FL...same thing) and keep from melting the car inside the trailer. It gets hot as heck in those things. Also, I use it as a portable garage sometimes, and on hot days, that A/C is a blessing! Well worth the money IMO.