164 replies to this topic

[Mangham54]

Questions answered, cheers Luke. Back on topic.

[techieboy]

Don't underestimate doing the towing test. It'll be a full day, if not two, at the minimum, I'd have thought. By all accounts it's not easy and really is a mini-HGV test.

[ianrm]

thanks for the support guys and gals

Ali, if you can still do that for me that would be great

Chris_uk come aboard team DCESL

mangham welcome along to all meets as with everyone else, the more support the better! even better if you can cook

i will be camping/sleeping the estate as much as possible, knockhill will be a hotel affair though dont worry people!

I went to every BTCC round and the only one I camped at was Knockhill. You big

[Boombang]

Bloodyhell that is a right minefield looking into that, but seems you are correct Jimmy as long as the towing car is big enough and the trailer is less than unlaiden weight of the vehicle AND the total weight is below 3.5 tonne all in. Including all those factors then he is fine. God damn DVLA why did they have to change the law? It should be either car licence and next step up HGV.. All IMO of course

Almost right.

It's not the total weight being below 3.5t, it's the maximum allowed weight - i.e. gross or MAM - that must be below 3.5t.

Add the gross weight of the towcar to the gross of the trailer. If that is less than 3.5t and the trailer gross is less than the unladen weight of tow vehicle, then you are ok.

[The Batman]

what letter do you have to have on your license to be able to tow

[Zoobeef]

B+E

[The Batman]

bollocks i havent got E, looks like i better book myself in for a trailor course

[luke.]

Like it has been discussed though you can drive with a trailer apparently just on a B licence as long as your car and trailer does not exceed 3.5tonne. Also the trailer and load on trailer has to weigh less that the weight of the car. Otherwise according to the dvla website you can do it all legit on just a B licence. So joe get a car that will weigh more than your trailer and vx combined weight but not so big that the whole total weight is over 3.5t

[The Batman]

ah ok thats good then, back to the a4 estate

[CocoPops]

Are you sure about that Luke?

I thought the hole point was trailer or no trailer, rather than "anyone can drive a car+trailer as long as....."

http://www.direct.go...cles/DG_4022564

Drivers who passed a car test on or after 1 January 1997 are required to pass an additional driving test in order to gain entitlement to category B+E and all larger vehicles. In addition to the new driving tests, drivers of vehicles which fall within subcategories C1, C1+E, D1 and D1+E also have to meet higher medical standards.

[CocoPops]

Another example... This person had a disco and needed to tow a caravan (probably less than car+trailer)
Our Experience with the B + E Driving Trailer Test

[luke.]

Well to start with mate i thought that but reading into it this morning it does not seem the case and there are a lot of technicalities in which you can still drive on just a B licence. It might be worth giving dvla a ring up just to confirm as because it is in black and white it comes across a little confusing.. Which is not what you want if VOSA are waiting for you on the side off the road with the portable weigh bridges they have

[Zoobeef]

It confusing as hell You dont need +E up to a total weight of up to 3.5t Its not actual weight though its plated weight. Say a vx is 900kg, the trailer needs to be plated to hold more than that. But most likely it'll be plated at for example 1800kg. That is the weight you use for your calculations. therefore the tow car has to be more and therefore pushing the weigh over 3.5t Some get the trailers re plated to say 1000kg. Therefore able to still carry the vx but less to the total weight. Police will still weigh trailers though so dont get caught replating to 1000kg then have a 1200kg car on the trailer

[Boombang]

Spot on. My trailer (picked up today!) is a Brian James rated to 1300kg, more than enough for what I need. Thinking of getting a 406 estate to see me through a couple of years, then perhaps something nicer after wedding and honeymoon etc.

[Goosenka]

Spot on.

My trailer (picked up today!) is a Brian James rated to 1300kg, more than enough for what I need.

Thinking of getting a 406 estate to see me through a couple of years, then perhaps something nicer after wedding and honeymoon etc.

Chav

[Nev]

If I had a regular track car, I'd be keen to keep it road legal as well, so much easier and cheaper to drive it to a track and drive it back. The other advantage of a road legal car is that you can drive it 365 days a year and do your testing on roads, rather than only drive it approx 20 days a year on track. Is there some reason you can't keep it road legal or is it just the cost that's the influential factor ? I spose im lucky that Nipper only costs me £300 a year to insure, so thats nice and cheap for an old boy like me

Edited by Nev, 27 November 2011 - 08:30 AM.

[cnrandall]

Trouble with driving it to the events is how you get home when its broken!

[Mike (Cliffie)]

There is the balance Chris. The trick is to make it quick on the track whilst compramising performance therefore keeping it reliable. i will always keep mine road legal as I want to be able to take it to work as well as track stuff. Mine did 100 miles a day until last month and was a happy 263 BHP and very useful track car that won a round of Time Attack.

[cnrandall]

That's all very well until you want to get more competitive and start pushing the limits. I can see the challenge of the club class diminishing pretty quickly with you guys already getting wins!

[Graeme Lambert]

Don't underestimate doing the towing test. It'll be a full day, if not two, at the minimum, I'd have thought. By all accounts it's not easy and really is a mini-HGV test.

I think you are looking at around £500 all in to do this, including the test etc.
However Joe, I'm keen to do mine at somepoint, so it may be that we could share the costs of an instructor/tuition and bring this price down if you were up for that. Depends when you want/need to have qualified by.

G