If you're going to own a 962, buy a decent trailer

[URY914]

Whata think the car is worth, $130-180K?
Whata think the trailer is worth, 1.5K?

[cstreit]

LOL.

Wish I had a picture of the ex-F1 car showing up at Road America of the same... I guess he busted his budget on the car.

[jester911]

First you buy the big enclosed trailer. Then you have to buy a bigger tow vehicle. Pretty soon you have more in the hauling part than the racing part.

[jacko241]

We used to have a guy and his wife show up at Cen. FL Region SCCA races in the early '80s towing a Ferrari Daytona Competition Coupe on a single axle open trailer towed by a big ole Chrysler Imperial. Of course, that was the '80s. Still think it was pretty cool.

[analogmike]

I guess I don't feel so bad towing my cup car on a trailex

[ted]

In regards to race car value vs tow rig value....
A regular at the Monterey Hysterics has a $4,000,000.00 1930 Alfa Romeo race car that he tows with a 25 foot 78 Dodge motor home and a 20 year old 20 foot enclosed trailer. Very under cover.

Are the 962s more in the $300k to $400k range?
I heard a factory 962 engine rebuild can run around $90k.

[jluetjen]

I'd rather see someone stretch for the race-car and use what they have left for the trailer. To me that's one sign of a true racer. BTW, what's wrong with open trailers?

[jhadler]

Originally posted by jluetjen
...BTW, what's wrong with open trailers?

Nothing really. Except that a vandall or some other low-life could easilly cause $10k in damage in less than 10 seconds...

A car like that attracts a LOT of attention. Keeping it under wraps would not be a bad idea in my book.

Then again, with a $400k race car, I'd need a big busget jsut to keep it on the track. At that point, the cost of the bigger truck, and enclosed trailer tend to get lost in the noise pretty quickly...

How much in tires does that car eat through in a weekend? Gas? Engine refresh must be big buck$!

-Josh2

[Netspeed]

It could have been worse. He could have used a U-Haul tow dollie!

I would think that wing being reversed would make the hitch feel a bit light at highway speeds. That's not a very big tow vehicle, I think the guys nuts.

[Porsche Doc]

I wish I had his problem Man!

[Jeff Alton]

Well, from where I stand he has a better trailer than I have (see my sig line) he has a waaaaaaaaaaaaaay better race car, but I think I have him beat in the tow vehicle department, but just! Maybe he is having his new trailer built?!? Maybe not though. I like what John said, stretch to get the car, not the trailer....

Cheers

[jluetjen]

Not to mention -- I believe that the picture was taken in the UK. In Europe and the UK, you'll find that people tow with a lot less then they do in the US. Partially because the distances are often smaller, but also because the average person (and even the not-so-average) have far less space for storing a big enclosed trailer. Tow vehicles are often smaller too -- I really don't know when I ever saw a "Dually" in Europe or the UK.

Americans on the other hand have a love affair -- and myopia -- with big trucks. They feel that the only way to tow a 1000 lb FF with some tools is with a "Dually" with a 300 HP / 800 lb-ft diesel. In the case of that 962, let's be honest, the whole car most likely weighs about 1800 lbs tops. That's not much. Combined with the trailer you're looking at maybe a towing weight of 2800-3000 lbs.

I'll admit to being myopic. I've seen several small tow vehicles jacknifed by their trailer, usually on steep downhills. I always figured the feeling of the rear end getting pushed in front of you was something I didn't want to experience. But, I go overboard on lots of things.

[jluetjen]

Isn't that just as much a function of the brake configuration (if any) on the trailer? If you have trailer properly set-up with surge or electric brakes, and the tongue weight and trailer balance is correct, I would think you should be OK as long as you are within the tow vehicle's rated capacities. I've seen semi's jack-knifed too. It doesn't necessarily mean that Semi's are unfit to tow.

But then again -- you're 914 driver, so I suspect that you don't have the experience in oversteer that 911 drivers have.

[Z-man]

There was a guy who showed up at an NNJR VIR DE with a open cockpit LMP type racer with a GT1 motor. (Yes, THE PORSCHE GT1 motor). Arrived towing it on an open trailer behind a BMW 7-series. And a support truck arrived shortly after.

Amazing car - but like the 962 owner, once you tie up all your $$ on a racecar, there's little left...

-Z.

[TRE Cup]

Don't forget that a lot of the roads in Europe are narrow. Getting a proper set up (in our eyes) would restrict the driver to just the big roads- and most road courses are off the beaten path there. So owning these little trailers make a lot of sense

[cstreit]

Astute observation Dave... that is a Euro plate on the back!

[URY914]

All this talk and no one has asked me where I took the picture.

You guys would never cut it on DRAGNET.

[jluetjen]

Originally posted by URY914
All this talk and no one has asked me where I took the picture.

You guys would never cut it on DRAGNET.

Look I've already narrowed it down to "Greater Europe". The trailor plate appears to be UK, I'm pretty sure that it's not Germany (even though the tow car has a DE sticker on the rear window which would suggest German), The tour busses on either side have the driver on the right and the door on the left, so within the context of Europe, they are definitely UK. The architechure of the building in the back seems fairly standard european industrial park style, and it doesn't look particularly "German" to me, but I can't put into words why.

My guess, on the grounds of the factory of one of the more well known racing teams or business in the UK. Possibility two; near Silverstone or one of the other major tracks that have racing related industrial parks on site.

My third choice would be outside of the "Top Gear" studio.

How'd I do?