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*Dave*
24-06-09, 07:03 PM
hey ,

building my track car at the moment, and cant afford to insure, tax and MOT it along with my two other cars.

so thinking of gettin a towing dolly to take it to track days and fitting a tow-bar to my corsa b sri.

does my lisence cover me to do this?
iv been driving nearly 3 years if thats any thing to do with regulations.

please help as i know nothing about the legal side of towing.

thanks:thumb:
scott.parker
24-06-09, 07:06 PM
Dolly's are now illegal mate, trailers only now, and if you passed after September 97 you need to sit/pay for a towing test to be on your license, theres load of black holes in it....

But on a plus side i might have a trailer for sale if your looking?

Scott
*Dave*
24-06-09, 07:08 PM
my boss uses his dolly 3 times a week and hes never been pulled up about it.

i hate the law always makes things so difficult!!!!

only want to have some legal fun as cant do it on public roads.


anyone else have any info?
scott.parker
24-06-09, 07:15 PM
Here's all the info you need.

http://www.ntta.co.uk/faq/default.htm



An A-frame or dolly can only be used to recover a broken down vehicle to a place of safety. Transporting a car is, therefore, illegal. A-frames may be offered with a braking system that applies the car's brakes. These do not conform to the law as the car then becomes a "braked trailer" and has to conform to European Directives contained within the Construction and Use Regulations. It does not conform to the European Directive 71/320/EEC and amendments regarding braking requirements in any way. The use of this A-frame for transportation is illegal. It is still OK for use to recover a vehicle to a place of safety.
*Dave*
24-06-09, 07:26 PM
ok great, thanks for the help so far.

couple more q's, sorry lol.

just worked out my towing allownce and its 900kg.
1. can i use a corsa b sri to tow ?

2. how much would a fully stripped out nova(lots of un necessary metal cut away) wit a c20xe fitted weigh?
Sloth
24-06-09, 07:27 PM
/\ hence how the aa use em on the back of their vans. but.. disconnect ya craqnk sensor, and the car is broken..... now you can recover it...
scott.parker
24-06-09, 07:29 PM
All the answers are on that site mate, even in that post! lol

No the corsa is almost the same weight as a nova, so if you add a trailer it's going to be not far of double..
mikey14sr
24-06-09, 10:36 PM
ok great, thanks for the help so far.

couple more q's, sorry lol.

just worked out my towing allownce and its 900kg.
1. can i use a corsa b sri to tow ?

2. how much would a fully stripped out nova(lots of un necessary metal cut away) wit a c20xe fitted weigh? 7-800kgs

900kgs will be the limit if the trailers got brakes, without brakes it'll be more like 500.

As said though, you could get away with an a-frame, but the towed vehicle then has to be fully mot'd, taxed and insured, because all the wheels are on the road.
scott.parker
25-06-09, 12:03 AM
900kgs will be the limit if the trailers got brakes, without brakes it'll be more like 500.

As said though, you could get away with an a-frame, but the towed vehicle then has to be fully mot'd, taxed and insured, because all the wheels are on the road.


A-frame for transportation is illegal. It is still OK for use to recover a vehicle to a place of safety....
Ernie
25-06-09, 07:18 AM
Im glad im old as its much easyer for towing.
General Baxter
25-06-09, 07:29 AM
bah trailer test is easy anyway lol
strcnova
25-06-09, 07:56 AM
Right my mate had exactly the same problem.
The age limit change two months before his birthday (age 28)so its caused him no end of grief. He looked into the trailer test and the cost was over £400 quid!!!. All he wanted to do was tow his mk2 Fiesta rally car with a volkswagen Passat estate. (oh yeah and his car weighed just over 840kgs!!)
In the end he is using a trailer from a friend and has a qualified driver that can tow with him and thats getting him round it.
He is also looking into doing a trailer test with the caravan club as it is about half the cost he was looking at.
mikey14sr
25-06-09, 07:38 PM
Originally Posted by National Trailer and Towing Association
A-frame for transportation is illegal. It is still OK for use to recover a vehicle to a place of safety.


Tell that to the hoards of motorhome drivers I've seen today with merc A class's dragged behind them, which was allready illegal on the continent :wall: .


In the end he is using a trailer from a friend and has a qualified driver that can tow with him and thats getting him round it.

So long as it's his mate driving it when the trailer's loaded, that's fine, because no-one (except armed forces maybe?) is allowed to pull a loaded trailer on L plates.

But yeah basicly if you want to be certain of being within the law do the trailer test. Or if you think you might fancy driving a truck in the future, do the rigid test (C) then the artic test (C+E), as passing the artic test automaticly gives you trailer entitlement in every lower class ('tis a little expensive though).
General Baxter
25-06-09, 08:13 PM
Tell that to the hoards of motorhome drivers I've seen today with merc A class's dragged behind them, which was allready illegal on the continent :wall: .

wrong, they are attched to the motorhome brakes, thus making it a 'trailer' not recovery lol
*Dave*
26-06-09, 08:48 PM
so what is my best option?
mikey14sr
27-06-09, 11:28 AM
Get shot of the corsa, buy something like a vectra estate (at least a 2l (1500kgs towing capacity), preferably a v6 (1800kgs towing capacity) and a trailer, and you should be able to drive that together just on a cat B licence provided you stay under both the GCW stamped on the VIN plate and 3500kgs in total.

If the GCW exceeds 3500kgs, or the GVW of the trailer exceeds the ULW of the tow-car, you'll have to go do the trailer test.