Russia Sailplanes website

Marc Ramsey skrev den Sat, 21 Feb 2004 08:27:59
GMT:

There are quite a few 4 cylinder vehicles available in the US with
specified towing capacities in the 1500 to 3000 lb range. VW Golf and
Jetta, Subaru Outback and Forester, Volvo V40, Saab 9-3, Toyota Tacoma...

Towed a Discus with my -87 Golf II, 70 hp. It was very doable, doing 90
km/h on the freeway with no problems. When I encountered some steep hills,
it was a different story though (we're talking steep here, normal road
gradients posed no trouble). Felt like I was driving a heavy truck
instead, having to downshift into second and pull onto the shoulder
climbing. Not something you're used to in your car! Under 30 km/h,
attention shifted to the engine temperature gauge rather than the speedo
as the thermostat was wide open by then, trying to find the balance
between speed (radiator airflow) and engine strain. Not something I cared
much to repeat.

It is legal and doable, but make sure there aren't any unusually long
and/or steep climbs along the way.

And if I _owned_ a glider, I would get a bigger car to go along with it.
Er, actually, I did that anyway. Too much rust!

Cheers,
Fred