Motorhome for motorsport (1 Viewer)

[Siddo]

Hi,

I'm new to all of this motorhome malarky but Mel, my wife, and I have started to look into it and are really excited about the prospect.

A bit of advice on what we should be looking for would be really helpful as our knowledge isn't great.

We are looking for something reasonably spacious with a good sized garage. Part of our use will be towing a lightweight car to race meetings (trailer gross weight 1380kg) hence the requirement for the garage for tools and spare parts. It would generally be just my wife and I travelling but the ability to take our young nephews, aged 7 and 5, for weekend adventures is part of the attraction of getting a motorhome. A good kitchen and bathroom space is important for Mel. We like the look of the Rimor Koala Elite 722 or something similar.

We don't really know how much to spend. We could be tempted by a 10 year old rear wheel drive Transit based motorhome for around £20,000-25,000. Our concern with this is that it might end up being a money-pit in terms of maintenance. Would we would be better off getting something newer/nicer, accept a bit more of a depreciation hit but (hopefully) enjoy cheaper running costs?

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

Matthew

 

[funflair]

I dont think 10 years is a particular problem as most motorhomes of that age have not seen a lot of miles so will certainly not be worn out, as long as the chassis and running gear gets a good looking at before you part with any money, and buy a good quality Continental van and the bodywork and interior should be OK, certainly ours is over 10 years old now and I don't imagine that it is suddenly going to become a "money pit" but I could be wrong.

Martin

 

[Spud]

Check out RS Motorhomes.
Spud

BTW, welcome.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[cornish boy]

Knowing how much my tools weighed when mechanicing for British Championship karts I would be concerned about payload capacity especially with a trailer on the back as that will stick at least another 100kg of nose weight onto the rear axle.

It might be worth thinking about the kind of things you would want to take with you and get a feel for their volume and weight which then will enable you to rule out unsuitable motorhomes purely on a payload basis.

 

[Enword]

We have a Autotrail Mohican (No Garage) on a sprinter 316 because of the towing capacity.

We have a covered trailer & every thing goes in there.

 

[funflair]

Something on IVECO 60C chassis should have plenty of payload and rear wheel drive as well.

Martin

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Enword]

Just checked with a friend & they still have this for sale (Rally Cross) not the MotorHome

 

[Two on Tour]

We changed from our poor old coachbuilt motorhome to a panel van conversion last year as it was a better tow wagon for trailering or classic cars to distant events, but we are finding that it does not really suit us so we spent a lot of time going through the specs and reviews of pretty well all the motorhome makes and models out there under ten years old.
A couple of trips to the NEC motorhome show with clear ideas of what we wanted and we thought we had made our mind up but the NEC was mainly new models.
A couple of months on and keeping a lookout for what we wanted we started to feel that maybe we had blinkered ourselves a bit, so we went to the Peterborough show and looked over every van there even one we had not considered.
As a result we then felt sure what we decided on what was really for us. So in short check out what fits your criteria and physically look over a few motorhome.
Have a look around the paddock at your next race meeting and ask owners if what they have are any good.

 

[Siddo]

Some great advice there, thank you. I will ensure that we carefully check the weights of whatever we buy to ensure the payload and towing weights are suitable. I passed my driving test in 1997 so will need to do a C1 test for a larger motorhome (and C1+E to be able to tow with it) but I've already got that in hand as I don't want my licence to limit what we can buy.

We've got a bit of time to plan as the motorhome fund will come from a house sale which may or may not happen quickly. In the meantime we can enjoy doing our research and visiting dealers to work out what suits us best.

Thanks again everybody.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Two on Tour]

The other thing to bear in mind is that in a lot a cases you can re-plate a motorhome to a higher weight range providing the motorhome is capable of this which will increase the payload you can use and that may make a motorhome you liked and thought not suitable due to payload usable.
Another point is how much overhang there is past the rear axle if your going to load up the garage. Although you have a max payload to work with it is also dependant on the max that's allowed on each axle.

 

[Detnor]

Please can I wander off topic...
So if you want to take out a mortgage, a Burstener towing a trailer with a Stanley Steamer, seen here at Silverstone
and below the old way to race, a Ford Thames bus, a F5000 Cooper T86C on board and towing a Ford. (Hockenheim 1970).

 

[Enword]

Please can I wander off topic...
So if you want to take out a mortgage, a Burstener towing a trailer with a Stanley Steamer, seen here at Silverstone
and below the old way to race, a Ford Thames bus, a F5000 Cooper T86C on board and towing a Ford. (Hockenheim 1970).

View attachment 161110 View attachment 161111

Or something between to two,

this suits us.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Detnor]

And this is what the awning is for...

 

[PhilG]

You have to be careful with GTW .. I know of a few guys who pulled a Brian James with a car in with an RV and were over weight .

Most of the MX guys who run Rimors and Kentuckys with water tanks are over before they even get in them , so do your maths properly and suss out what all your tools weigh..

That one that Enword linked to looks spot on , RWD too , which is a must for towing owt proper IMO...

 

[Augusta08]

Hi Mathew, I used to tow my Caterham on Brian Jame Minno trailer behind a McLouis 2.8 JTD with no problems. I bought the McLouis direct from the factory in Italy and imported it myself. It was a LHD but that's not a problem when you've got a race car on the back you're not overtaking everything.

You can still pick-up the McLouis 2.8JTD vans for not a lot of money, your budget would get a nice one.

I moved on to the Autocruise Augusta with 3.0 and tow a heaver race car these days but I'd start looking at the 2.8 JTD mine did 70,000 miles without a problem.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[PhilG]

Please can I wander off topic...
So if you want to take out a mortgage, a Burstener towing a trailer with a Stanley Steamer, seen here at Silverstone
and below the old way to race, a Ford Thames bus, a F5000 Cooper T86C on board and towing a Ford. (Hockenheim 1970).

View attachment 161110 View attachment 161111

You have no idea how long it took me to realise that its the car nose that was under the bus.. love old pics like that.

 

[Detnor]

You have no idea how long it took me to realise that its the car nose that was under the bus.. love old pics like that.

Yes, they put it there to protect it. The car went in the back of bus along with all the kit . The Cooper is still about today.

 

[karl c]

try looking at this one, they my drop the price as been on for some time,

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[robrace]

We have been racing in historics for 40 years and have always had a motorhome to tow and live in when at race circuits both in the uk and abroad.Money pits !NO!We have had several that we have bought,used for a couple of years and got our money back.I'm a Transit RWD fan and the last 5 have all been Transits.Our present one is a 2.4di Buccaneer 5 birth that is a 2001 and we have had it 8 years.We love it and it tows well.I admit that I have had it remapped and fitted air assist suspension(ebay £250)I paid £19k and it,s still worth about £14k!Only thing it has had is new tyres and regular service.We not only use it for motorsport but holidays in France at least twice a year,weekends away.It doe'snt owe us anything and we love it.

 

[GWAYGWAY]

You do not realise how lucky you are, When I was racing my bike in the late 60's I had a mini pickup and bike sideways across the platform, a tool box and a tent. Motorhome, Trailer, what next A RS lorry with double decked space in the back??? ps. I think my mini was a bit overweight with two people and the tool box in/on it. but in those days?????

 

[Enword]

Haha When we started we had a Peugeot pickup, trailer & tent, we got to one event so late we threw the tent over the back of the pickup & slept under that Mrs D our lad & my self, think that may have been the turning point

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[PhilG]

Haha When we started we had a Peugeot pickup, trailer & tent, we got to one event so late we threw the tent over the back of the pickup & slept under that Mrs D our lad & my self, think that may have been the turning point

The things the other halves do so we can have our fun.

Next weekend we are on a 11.59 ferry Thursday night, drive till around 3am and hole up somewhere, down through Belgium friday into Germany, get set up , 2 days going round in circles, leave 5pm sunday, to get 10pm boat, arrive back 3am Monday , back at work 8am.