Re: Alfas as tow cars

[Jaap Bouma <j.h.bouma@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,
I thought I'd give the European (oh all-right, the Dutch) perspective on
towing, trailers etc.
For starters, building your own hitch is illegal here: hitches have to have
type approval, and are specific to a car type. In addition, the weight of
the trailer is limited, in several ways. 
First, the hitch has a maximum trailer weight rating, depending on the
construction of the hitch and the specs of the car it is designed for.
Second, towing a trailer that is heavier than the towing car is illegal. Or
rather, towing a trailer for which the total of its own weight plus the
maximum payload is more than the weight of the towing car is illegal, even
if you don't use the maximum payload. So you could be fined for towing a
heavy-duty trailer empty! This restriction is for a driver who has a
driver's licence for a normal car _and_ an additional driver's licence for
a car plus trailer. As the maximum weight of a car is 3500kg, the maximum
weight of a car and trailer is 7000kg.
For a driver who doesn't have the additional trailer licence, the weight
(incl payload) of a trailer with brakes must be less than the weight of the
car, and the weight of car plus trailer cannot exceed 3500kg. Unbraked
trailers must be less than 650kg.

All this may seem excessive, but I've seen the results of overloading
trailers and caravans all too often. An overloaded caravan, pulled at
speeds in the order of 60-70mph, _will_ be unstable. The air pressure of a
passing lorry will be sufficient to start the caravan whipping, and it will
take a skilled driver (and few of the holiday drivers with caravans are) to
control it. Of course, a long rear overhang will make matters worse. Uhm,
did anybody mention the Alfetta GTV? Overhang somewhere between 3 and 4 feet?


And as John Hertzman said: use good tyres. Tyres on caravans and trailers
often do not see much action, so they will age, go brittle and crack before
the tread is worn out. 

>Fred correctly says "I don't care what kind of load you want to put on a
>trailer, if it is nearly perfectly balanced, very little load will be on the
>hitch." Perfectly balanced does mean slightly nose-heavy, probably fifty

Well, that's true as long as you're not moving. Do some emergency braking
on a downhill slope and the load on the hitch (both vertical and
horizontal) will be very significant. In particular the horizontal load may
well approach the weight of the trailer itself. Try feeding that kind of
load through your bumper mounts!

My advice would be: be very careful what loads you put on a trailer, and at
what speeds you drive it (did I mention that generally in Europe the speed
limit for a car plus trailer is 50mph? Not that anybody takes a blind bit
of notice..). If something happens, the consequences will be major. Very
major.


Best, Jaap Bouma (Netherlands)
'87 GTV6 2.5 Grand Prix

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