Ducati Sporting Club UK > DesmoDue Race Series > DesmoDue - General Questions and Chat > Getting your bike to tracks....

[Cranker V2]

Van. Towing a trailer is a pain. Vans can be gotten for 2k and be reliable. Skids may even have his charabang still for sale. If you do go the car and trailer route get a decent tent and an decent awning to keep the bike in (sometimes garages not available/fully booked). Put the tent up and down can be apain, but beats sleaping in the car.

[bradders]

big box trailer a good second option to a van, as you can sleep in it as well. Worked ok for me for 2 years. From experince my 250 goes 44mpg to 28mpg towing at 70 motorways etc, whereas a friends 4x4 doenst really lost too much at all. Think its the drag affect rather than the weight as a taller car already makes a big hole in the air

Just insulate it well...coz it gets cooold!

[badgerpilot]

Van with a part (so far) camper mod for me (also got a trailer but I fell lucky on that bit), gives you transport and a bed without much setting up hassle.
Very useful for late arrivals at tracks, building tents in the dark is a pain.
If you can change the V5 to camper you'll get cheaper insurance and MOTs too.
Box trailer on the back of a camper seems perfect, arrive at track, pull on handbrake, job done.

[dunlop0_1]

Paul Payne for a couple of years has used only his people carrier to transport the bike and to sleep in (yes the bike fits inside)

Ron Jolly used his car and a trailer plus a tent.

I used to hire vans but it got expesive and inconvenient so I decided an old transit would do which like Badger has done was part modded with fold down beds.

Still have the old transit (£900) and an old caravan £500) and its the height of luxury.

The pair will probably sell for not much less than what I paid for them when the time comes.

[banger san]

Medium sized box trailer that bike and most of my gear fits in, still get 40 mpg towing at reasonable speed behind my estate then pick up B&B or Travel lodge. Much warmer than kipping in tent, trailer, car or van and the only way I can get 'er in doors to come along.

[coppersaucepipe]

Northgate will do a newish hire transit for £30 a day or £85 a weekend (last thing Thursday to first thing Monday), and every 5th hire, you get a day free. Just make sure you book in advance because if they've run out of vans you end up wishing you didn't rent from else where.
Until this weekend, I was seriously considering just renting, I'm now looking for a towbar as a short term fix.

[ells]

I used a car and a basic bike trailer. That was ok at the beginning, except for when you forget about the trailer . Also when coming back at night you will spend a lot of time looking backwards to make sure the trailer is still there.

Hiring vans - across the year you will need to hire one not just for the races but track days, taking the bike to the mechanic\whatever.

Purchasing a van, hopefully you should get a fair amount back if you are carefull. Fuel consumption is not great. If you are going to use it for sleeping in as well as transporting the bike then something with a little height\length will be more comfortable.

Mark

[Si1208]

I swapped my car for a van a few years ago when I started doing trackdays and trips to the Nurburgring with a couple of mates, so when I started racing this year there was no decision to make. I must admit, I like having the space and convenience of my van, and wouldn't want to do it any other way, but 'each to his own'.

[bradders]

Chris Clarke has said caravan conversion, very neat job done by his old fella and if I had somewhere to store it and could cope with the ridicule of dragging one it seems good towing option

[milesaway]

most of last year i used my citroen dispatch work van (bought for £700 and sold for £800 4years later after doing a "john cleese" and battering sh*te out of it) and single bike trailer 2 big sticks and a bit of old lorry tarp- was just big enough to sleep ok and cost f**k all to run 38mpg and about £200 maintainance in all time i had it- bit slow but have always had bikes for going fast and always found vans more useful than cars-
now living luxury with vw lt35 and have converted my trailer to small box