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Towing.

To: <vintage-race-digest@autox.team.net>
Subject: Towing.
From: "Bruce Mansell" <bruce@rapidmachinery.com>
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 17:49:06 +1000
Hello America from Australia.
Guys, this country has such expensive fuel we dare not run big rigs as tow
vehicles unless we are very wealthy. That excludes most of the historic
racers here.
I built an "all aluminum" semi open trailer with a capacity of 2000 kgs. it
handles a Lotus Elite, Brabham BT 21, Lotus 22 and TVR Griffith V8 with
ease. Not all at once of course! It gets pulled by everything from a 2.0
litre Toyota pick up, 2.5 litre Subaru Liberty Wagon to a 2.7 litre Toyota 4
door pickup. The trailer weighs less than 500 lbs and has the deck supported
by rigging wire off a big yacht with turnbuckles to adjust the deck bow.
Works a bloody treat and will never suffer from the sulphuric ants (RUST)
It's a single axle design and is really easy to manoeuvre around the paddock
or garage.
The 2.7 Toyota , 5 speed manual transmission, tows it on long distances and
gives no problems with good fuel economy. 13 litres per hundred K's  In your
language that is about 23 miles per gallon if my maths are correct. Cruises
at 70MPH.
By the way, a properly designed trailer properly loaded with the weight on
the tow ball set right and decent brakes should tow safely in all
circumstances. Problem with most trailers I look at is they are badly
designed in the first place. I had a brown underpants panic stop in the
middle of a long corner with mine and stopped dead straight. Big brakes sure
help.
Bruce Mansell.

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