Beginner question about getting a broke car home!

D

_dave_

Member
Hi guys

So I'm a newbie at drifting and have done a few drift days but one thing plays on my mind while I'm there and that's if I get something majorly wrong with the car how am I going to get it home. I don't know anyone with a flatbed/trailer and I don't have the money/car to tow anyway. I want to push hard when I'm at the events but have been taking it easy for this reason

is there such a thing as a breakdown service for drift days where you can hire someone with a Flatbed to come collect you if you break down? People say push your car outside and call rac but that's not guaranteed. I wouldn't want to hire a flatbed every time I do a drift day either but for the sake of not worrying about my car breaking is it worth doing?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
I have attended santa pod, lydden hill. Hoping to do snetterton so the furthest distance would be just over 100 miles.
 
_dave_ said:
I have attended santa pod, lydden hill. Hoping to do snetterton so the furthest distance would be just over 100 miles.
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Its one of these things.. Thank your self lucky your closer to tracks than most of the people I know are.. and we all drive our cars to and from the events.. multiple times now we have had broken cars stuck in places, had to get AA/RAC and also hire trailers last minute.

Its not something you should worry about and not something you can prepare for unless you have loads of spare money.

My advice would be dont buy a Nissan Silvia, I know of a certain one who would blow up a turbo almost PER drift day .. to be rolled out of the grounds of the track and be picked up by the AA. This happened alot. They always took it home without a problem tho.

OR.. Take a friend with a car/jeep/van and a tow rope/bar worst case, just tow it outside and ring the AA.

There is no point in wasting any of your brain power on this worry though.. think about it this way..

Your brain can contain 100% of information to function. You use up 30% worrying about something that might never happen.. that leaves your brain working at only 70% for drifting. If you then concern yourself about X,Y and Z.. thats more worry, reducing your brain to doing what it needs to do.. The worry, exists SOULY inside your skull.. thats it. :) So, dont worry. Be happy and you wont need to get a trailer etc :D
 
Tow it a couple of miles down the road and ring the AA.

or push it outside the gates of the track and ring the AA (if they don't care it was obviously blown up on track)
 
Hi Mint

Thanks for your response. I am lucky to live about 1 hour from Lydden, 2 hours Snetterton and 2.5 hours Santa Pod.

I unfortunately don't have loads of spare money! I think that would ease my mind a bit if I did!.

I currently have a Nissan 200sx S13 which is stage 2. My day at DWYB I managed to get the oil a bit hot and pop the boost hoses off a few times but other than that the car run ok. I am fixing these issues as soon as possible (hopefully friday).

I don't have anyone that is generally available to come with me to the drift days due to work etc otherwise I would take them and hope for the best!

I would love to turn my brain off and concentrate on the drifting the whole time I am there but its difficult for me to do so.

r3k1355 - I know I have a breakdown cover with my bank account which states

Roadside Assistance - roadside repair or recovery home or to the nearest garage (whichever is closer) for you and your vehicle for breakdowns more than 1/4 mile from home.

So if I can get someone to tow me down the road for a tenner or so and then get the AA out to collect me hopefully things will be Ok, I just don't think its guaranteed with them.

Another thing, If I completely write my car off into a wall, how am I getting AA to come and get my broken down car? lol I need to prepare for these things to happen so that my mind can be at ease when I am drifting.

Thanks for both your help
 
In my experience, most tracks will be willing to help you get outside the gates so you can be recovered. Plus, most people who go to these events are willing to lend a hand if needed. Just don't be a dick about it.

Or move closer to the tracks :D
 
mint said:
My advice would be dont buy a Nissan Silvia, I know of a certain one who would blow up a turbo almost PER drift day .. to be rolled out of the grounds of the track and be picked up by the AA. This happened alot. They always took it home without a problem tho.
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Depends who is putting together said Nissan's. Properly maintained and built Nissan's run just fine dude, just those who dont do things right or buy ebay parts wonder why they always break. (Not aimed at you Minto, just a general observation) :)
 
200sx_ said:
Depends who is putting together said Nissan's. Properly maintained and built Nissan's run just fine dude, just those who dont do things right or buy ebay parts wonder why they always break. (Not aimed at you Minto, just a general observation) :)
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You say that and on paper yeah thats supposed to be what happens but ive seen countless users/mods on forums worldwide that have done said things and the engine or turbo or somthing still goes wrong its just life. I remember building my first engine along side 3 other users at the time who had 10+ years messing with engines and online mine and another users worked and I did everything myself apart from the honing and cleaning of the engine where a garage did that. i didnt even plastigauge or go into the same lengths that the other builders did all i did was take a low milage engine and replace EVERYTHING to OEM (No not blueprint or europarts) either or Upgradedsuch as ARP

thats my 2 cents.

deffo interested though as i think its a lot of users that worry about this situation which is also why streeto happens because if they dick about on the road its usually gonna be close to where they live or find comfortable as can be to breaking down close by. people always say its the cost of the events but i would deffo be more inclined to say THIS ^^ is the main reason
 
rd-jon said:
In my experience, most tracks will be willing to help you get outside the gates so you can be recovered. Plus, most people who go to these events are willing to lend a hand if needed. Just don't be a dick about it.

Or move closer to the tracks :D
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haha good idea :) I am sure the wife would be happy with my suggestion to move to Lydd :D

h20490 said:
You say that and on paper yeah thats supposed to be what happens but ive seen countless users/mods on forums worldwide that have done said things and the engine or turbo or somthing still goes wrong its just life. I remember building my first engine along side 3 other users at the time who had 10+ years messing with engines and online mine and another users worked and I did everything myself apart from the honing and cleaning of the engine where a garage did that. i didnt even plastigauge or go into the same lengths that the other builders did all i did was take a low milage engine and replace EVERYTHING to OEM (No not blueprint or europarts) either or Upgradedsuch as ARP

thats my 2 cents.

deffo interested though as i think its a lot of users that worry about this situation which is also why streeto happens because if they dick about on the road its usually gonna be close to where they live or find comfortable as can be to breaking down close by. people always say its the cost of the events but i would deffo be more inclined to say THIS ^^ is the main reason
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I wish I was more mechanically minded. Being into computers instead of cars growing up hasnt helped me out here with my new found love (drifting). All I know is I have a manual boost controller set to low and I dont want to touch it as knowing my luck I will kill something! My car has stage 2 mods and low(ish) mileage at 75k and only gets used for weekend/track use.

I agree with you about people turning to streeto. Its convenient, its close to home and most people will do this early hours of the morning where if you do break something/break down they are normally not far from home so can sort it out the next day etc.

The price of the events isn't off putting, well to me it's not. The fact that you can have access to a race track for the day that is guaranteed to make you smile is well worth the £70-£120 entry fee. The thing that puts me off is the worry of getting home if something goes wrong. I would happily drive myself to some of the events that are 4 hours away, but its more worry.

icebluesmx5 said:
That's was my concern when I did my first drift day. So in the end I got a trailer so I had no worry about getting car home.
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Do you trailer your car every time you go to the event? My daily is a 1.1 peugeot that can only just pull itself down the road let alone a trailer. Plus there is the expense of the towing license, trailer, storing the trailer etc.
 
Haha just learn and geek it up i was a computer geek to a certain level now I Dont have a clue about them . read build threads ask dumb questions its all part of learning . ...I've broke and fixed most of my cars and that's how I've learnt ....actually its I've bought shit cars by terrible owners and had to fix them because they broke is more the correct version :*)
 
I tow to all events as well, for the same reason. My nearest track is Driftland and that's about a 2 hour drive. The last time I drove to an event I had a blow-out on the drag strip at 98mph, nearly destroyed the clutch, and had a run in with the tyre wall on the drift oval. That settled it for me. Trailer was bought and the daily was changed from Mk4 Golf to Audi A4 Avant.
 
There's a place in Reigate that rents out flat beds and trailers cheap. Last time I enquired it was £100 for the day for a flatbed.

Myself and a mate going pod in couple weeks was worried about same thing so borrowing a trailer and hiring a van to tow said trailer.
 
scotch_kris said:
There's a place in Reigate that rents out flat beds and trailers cheap. Last time I enquired it was £100 for the day for a flatbed.

Myself and a mate going pod in couple weeks was worried about same thing so borrowing a trailer and hiring a van to tow said trailer.
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Thats a good idea - with regards to towing - unless you passed your driving test before Jan 1997 you have to do an additional towing license test thing - that's more expense to consider if anyone was going to take this approach.
 
h20490 said:
Haha just learn and geek it up i was a computer geek to a certain level now I Dont have a clue about them . read build threads ask dumb questions its all part of learning . ...I've broke and fixed most of my cars and that's how I've learnt ....actually its I've bought shit cars by terrible owners and had to fix them because they broke is more the correct version :*)
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Yeah good idea :) I managed to obtain a 200sx S13 workshop manual PDF which is about 300 pages long that covers absolutely everything to do with the car, should help me to learn some stuff.
 
icebluesmx5 said:
Yes will be towing it to all events as car not road legal plus I know whatever happens I can get it home.
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Good idea. at least you have peace of mind that you are getting home no matter what.

rd-jon said:
I tow to all events as well, for the same reason. My nearest track is Driftland and that's about a 2 hour drive. The last time I drove to an event I had a blow-out on the drag strip at 98mph, nearly destroyed the clutch, and had a run in with the tyre wall on the drift oval. That settled it for me. Trailer was bought and the daily was changed from Mk4 Golf to Audi A4 Avant.
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Sounds intense! My wife actually has a Toyota rav4 2.0 TD which I might be able to tow with, I think that would be sufficient?
 
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