Towing my rally car: questions!

I did a setup like this before going to trailering the car itself. Its great for bringing stuff to the track, but you're still stuck if you have a mechanical issue or (I don't even want to say it) crash. For me going from towing a trailer behind the car and towing the car itself was worth a couple of seconds a lap because I knew I was getting home even if I had an problem.

 

that'd be a really bad idea for an AWD car like a Subaru. transmission will not be pleased.

 

Good advice. Pay special attention to the ground clearance and ramp angle.

Your truck can do it safely if you understand the limitations. If you're towing the STI in the mountains the RPM range required is gonna get old quickly imo. If I were towing this setup on flat ground and rolling hills or the occasional climb then I'd be fine with it in my Tacoma. The reason you hear wildly different opinions is because people are describing their subjective feel of how the truck performs. If you ask objective questions.. is it legal, can it do the job safely? The answer is yes.

You'll want an aluminum car hauler.

Unless you have the space.. storage fees for a trailer around San Fran sound like $$$. Around my area u-haul car trailers are available anytime with a weeks notice. If $ is any sorta concern then you may want to consider it. Nice car and sounds like a fun hobby. Good luck.

 

Let me just throw this out. You're getting close to the comfortable limits of a Tacoma to pull this. I think it will, but you won't be able to haul much weight in the bed of the truck AND pull the trailer. The real limiting factor here isn't PULLING the weight, but how much weight the trailer will put on the trucks suspension.

You need about 13% of the trailer weight on the tongue or you'll get dangerous trailer sway. Assuming you can keep trailer weight to 5000 lbs that is an additional 650 lbs on your truck. Most of these trucks have 1000-1200 lbs payload. That would only leave you 350-550 lbs for the driver, passengers and cargo in the truck. That is cutting it pretty close. Just for comparison my Honda Fit has 800 lbs payload for passengers and cargo. If it's just the trailer, OK. But if you need to also carry hundreds of pounds of tools and other gear along with the trailer you need a bigger truck.

And if you do decide to go up to a 1/2 ton truck don't Ass-u-me that truck is any better. Probably 50% of the 1/2 ton trucks on the road won't handle a trailer significantly better than a Tacoma. The specs on 1/2 ton trucks are all over the place. Many literally have less payload and towing capacity than a Tacoma. Most are only slightly better. Get one with the right equipment and they will out tow some 3/4 ton trucks. If you're buying a 1/2 ton to tow with you better check the specs carefully before buying.

 

Yeah, thanks for all of the feedback folks!

Curb weight of the sti is 3300 lbs but mine is stripped out, so closer to 2900. Still, sounds like it’ll be a pain and pushing the limits of what the taco can handle. I thankfully live in the marina which is a flat part of SF so hills are thankfully not going to be an issue.

I’m going to try lugging around an empty trailer this weekend to see what’s what and decide from there, but I might just end up driving the STI to my events and wear ear plugs so my ears don’t bleed.

 

Why is your rallycar so low? -shiny lo pro tires and wheels are going to take a beating.. not to mention those nice sti skirts and front lightbar..
I think maybe just drive it there and have fun until you know you're going to really get into it.
The point of RallyX is bringing your daily.. once you break enough parts and want a stage car you can worry about trailering it.

My old rallycar;

 

I’m going to beg my buddy to borrow his 2500 Silverado he uses up at his vineyard.

 

Only pic I could find before the rally suspension went in

I have DMS 50’s on it now, coupled with the 4 pot conversion and 15” team dynamics 0 offset and some general Altimax arctic snows so I can drive it on the street and not worry about getting new sets. Once I get a trailer I can have real, hard sidewall gravel tires. I’ve been rally-x driving for 5 years now just about! Nice old Impreza wagon you had.

 

Don’t forget to look under the hood to see if your 2020 came with a transmission cooler or not - Toyota stopped installing them around April.

 

I

 

Yep Gravels would be awesome. I was TSD so still had to be able to do transits and be street legal..

 

Sorry did not notice the mt

 

I completely forgot about the AWD... yea scrap the dolly idea.

 

Yeah as others noted I’m MT. Wild that they stopped installing though...

 

So initially yes, this was the plan. But my STI is basically straight piped and stripped out fully, so it’s LOUD. And driving through California with a loud STI for 3 hours to the nearest Rally X spot is not only a great way to get pulled over but also a great way to be deaf. I think I need to get a silencer for my exhaust before I think about doing something like this...

 

Cheapest route .

 

F250 Tremor pkg would look good while towing a trailer.

 

Just throw it in neutral.

 

As long as it's Manual and you dial back the DCCD.

 

Absolutely do not do this with an AWD unless you like grenading the center diff.

Too many damn trolls on this forum.