Irish Mini Owners Club

im half thinkin about gettin a van to cart my autotest car and all the associated gear and parts around in. i know a mercedes sprinter will and a transit will too. is there any others anyone has seen around?

Came across this on donedeal recently . . .



Darran.

Im not sure if your car would fit in a transit like paddys, id say youd need the longer wheel base one. The problem with most of them is getting over the wheel archs.

Good result yesterday btw. Did you say ahead of Daniel in the class?

I got my mini into a long wheelbase Peugot Boxer. it was on standard 10's and only just cleared the archs inside.

i dunno. Id say a medium roof one would fit it. Ill hav to do more research. It works out far cheaper to sell the trailer buy a van and run it for 3 years than it would just to put me as a named driver on the jeep for 3 years. I did! Third in class! We ended up on the same points but according to paul i beat him cuz i won my class in kerry and daniel doesn hav a class win. I got alan, liam cashman and robin overall too. Ended up 12th!

fairplay, well done.

Yeah, a van makes everything very secure too for over night. Also they tell me the speed limit with a trailer is something 80km so you wouldnt have that worry either.

A recovery truck might also be an option, except for it not being enclosed, but it would save you having to drive in through a door opening and over the wheelarches of the van

yes but it kinda defeats the security aspect. The other vans ive seen have ramps up over the arches and storage underneath

I've seen Ken Irwin using a Hiace Pickup to transport his Mini to autotests

god that would have looked funny! Its still the security thing im goin for. Havin the car and tools locked away in a van that doesn look conspicious

box body transit, ex fleet the likes of omega, or united transport in the u.k. always auction off their vans roughly €2.5k would get you a 00-01....cleared inc v.r.t...

i did a bit of research and i reckon a mini could fit into a mk6 transit long wheelbase medium roof. The door has 150 mm clearance and the floor to roof inside has 600mm clearance. Which should cover the arches problem

Id say you mean cm Guy. Minis arent that small

dennis wrote:Id say you mean cm Guy. Minis arent that small

thank god for that!,
i was thinking it was model cars he was talking about their for a minute

actually i do mean mm. I mean thar the back doors are 15 cm wider than a standard mini and id the mini was sittin on the floor it wouod have 60 cm of space above it

ah right, thats not so bad. Id say the arches are about 250 - 300mm high so you should have plenty of room.

guyfo wrote:Its still the security thing im goin for. Havin the car and tools locked away in a van that doesn look conspicious

It would be kinda hard to miss a Mini being put in the back of a van don't you think? I think people are going to know its there!

StanO'Toole wrote:

guyfo wrote:Its still the security thing im goin for. Havin the car and tools locked away in a van that doesn look conspicious

It would be kinda hard to miss a Mini being put in the back of a van don't you think? I think people are going to know its there!

If theres 15 cars on trailers in a hotel carpark at night and 2 or 3 locked in the back of vans, which do you recon will be more at risk?

dennis wrote:

StanO'Toole wrote:

guyfo wrote:Its still the security thing im goin for. Havin the car and tools locked away in a van that doesn look conspicious

It would be kinda hard to miss a Mini being put in the back of a van don't you think? I think people are going to know its there!

If theres 15 cars on trailers in a hotel carpark at night and 2 or 3 locked in the back of vans, which do you recon will be more at risk?

the ones you left at home!

generally people dont steal autotest cars. Its trailers nd tools they steal. A trailer is much less secure than a van. Also u can fit much more tools, tyres and spare parts. It keeps the car clean. It means u can drive at 120kph instead of bein restricted to 80. I wouldn hav to do a test. It also saves money on insurance cuz i was quoted 2000 euro for puttin me as a named driver on my dads jeep. With sellin our trailer and buyin and insurin a van it would actually break even on money in the first year.

guyfo wrote: It means u can drive at 120kph instead of bein restricted to 80..

brave man driving a transit at 120km/h with a mini and tools in the back, some mess if you crash, and try explaining it to the insurance if you do, i personally dont think you are thinking it out very well...do a little more research....

if i get the van im not the only person who would be towing with one. at the moment there are 3 other people with vans towing autotest cars. one transit and two Mercedes sprinters (one of which has a nova in it and that is impressive!) the vans are kitted out properly with straps to hold the cars down and every one of the lads says its great because they can tow at 120 on the motorways and not hav to stick to 80. other lads have thought of it and made it work perfectly so i dont see a reason why i couldn't have a go.

just remember to take into consideration the weight of the car, the tools, the spares, then the ULW and GLW of the van itself ,if you are intent on doing it ,make sure the van has a decent antiroll bar, another option to look for would be an LDV convoy from royal mail in the u.k. the later 1's have all transit running gear and the earlier sherpa 1's have a combination of peugeot diesel engine and leyland crap but a fairly decent van at cheap money, you might be lucky enough to find a royal mail sack van with the boxed body on the rear.....

miniireland wrote: another option to look for would be an LDV convoy from royal mail in the u.k. the later 1's have all transit running gear and the earlier sherpa 1's have a combination of peugeot diesel engine and leyland crap but a fairly decent van at cheap money, you might be lucky enough to find a royal mail sack van with the boxed body on the rear.....

it'd never make it to 80kph let alone 120!!!