towing with caddy

[barton]

My son as got himself a clio track car, all stripped it weighs 950kg. I have a flat bed trailer which is 520kg so car and trailer is 1470kg.
The caddys been weight full of fuel and me at 1560kg so my gtm would be 3030kg. This is obviously less then the stated gtm of 3500kg but isnt there some rule about towing weight no being more then a percentage of the towing vehicle weight ?

[Reggie]

My understanding is that the towed mass must be no more than 85% of the gross vehicle weight. I read it as the Caddy being 1560kg without driver, so I think you're going to overloaded with the car & trailer, albeit only a bit over.

[Reggie]

Actually, you might be just ok - a quick Google found this saying max towing capacity is 1500kg http://www.topspeed.com/trucks/truck-re ... 31633.html

[barton]

thanks reggie.
I was under the assumption of the 85% thing and yes the 1560kg was with me in the van.

its just that if the gtm is 3500kg and me and the van are 1560kg that leaves a 1950kg trailer and load,
or put another way if i had the caddy fully loaded and me inside its going to be 2188kg that would still leave 1312kg of trailer and load. its confusing me.
was looking to tow it to nurburgring next week but may have to consider using the jumbo transit instead

[Reggie]

From what that says, flat out towing weight will be 1500kg, so that's your car and trailer with a bit of fuel, but allows for no payload in the van at all - a passenger would put you over weight before you even think about luggage, tools, etc.

I think you'd be much better off with a larger transit/Transporter etc. My mate used to tow with his Sportline Transporter and used a fully enclosed Race Shuttle trailer with a number of Porsche 911's and Ferrari's on board, with ease.

[llawgoch]

the 85% rule is a guidline, it is not anything official, just a recomended thing that caravanners use
, the caddy is allowed to tow 1500 so aslong your under that you are legal.
basically they are saying if the trailer weighs more than 85% of the towing car then it wont tow very nice on long journeys, typical of long distance touring caravanners.

[barton]

the 85% rule is a guidline, it is not anything official, just a recomended thing that caravanners use
, the caddy is allowed to tow 1500 so aslong your under that you are legal.

thats what i thought but as i said earlier its confusing,

I think you'd be much better off with a larger transit/Transporter etc. My mate used to tow with his Sportline Transporter and used a fully enclosed Race Shuttle trailer with a number of Porsche 911's and Ferrari's on board, with ease.

What i know of the transporters they are not 3500kg gross weight but 2800kg so would have same gtm as the caddy and your mate would have been over 3500kg for sure, my transit is a 3500gtw with a 5750kg gtm so i know there would be no prop towing but at the tunnel its long enough to be classed as freight and the cost goes from £210 for the caddy to £412.11p for the transit

[Matt89]

Have a look where your vosa checkpoints are and avoid haha.

If it looks stupid don't do it if don't look to bad cart on. Chances of been bothered are slim to no none.
I've been stoped for been over weight and if your abit over they let you off.
I've also been on the other hand parked up bla bla. You'll be fine.
Matt.

[llawgoch]

http://vanleasingmadesimple.com/van-lea ... eight-gtw/

see here for the gross train weight for a caddy

[diggerrus]

The85% is definitely only a guideline. But what is worth considering is nose weight from the drawbar, I.e what down force the trailer has. Too much and you will lose traction from the fwd caddy, is the trailer single or double axle? And most important are the trailer brakes good? Also food for thought is the 1.6tdi 102hp has nearly the power and torque as early discoverys and I used to tow huge weights with mine sometimes a bit over the 7000kgs gtm! Would think twice now though.... Not suggesting the caddy should be overloaded but with commen sense and well planned loading and route should be ok

[chezzy71]

is all this info is not on the chassis weight tag on the van

[van cleef]

I was wondering about towing my kit car with my Caddy which I'm purchasing this week to track days.

I wasn't sure if it was really up to the job....and certainly my current SDI wouldn't . I would be curious to find how other people find towing with their vans.

[barton]

had the sons clio track car on a proper car trailer, just two runners and no middle think it was a brian james weight next to nothing and the caddy pulled it fine. but when I used my anssems flat bed trailer with the car on, it didnt tow it that good. My trailer is 500kg unladen and put the clio quit high up and the van was very bounce as if I didnt have enough nose weight.
Thats why I started this thread. I ended up taking the transit