ROPE TOW BRACKET FOR RACE CARS. One of the biggest problems with aluminum bodied Abarth race cars is where to attach a bracket to tow the car off the track. I noticed a requirement for this in an event my 1000 GT was entered in recently and this set me to thinking how to make something both practical and elegant. It's made from a piece of 3/16" X 4" steel stock. This photo was taken withnthe tow bar upside down. The correct orientation is shown in the photo (2 down) of it installed on the car.
This backet is secured to the front leaf spring and the body under the nose. Ths most difficult aspect of designing it was to allow for spring movement without any movement of the bar itself. The front of the bar attaches under the nose of the car, as shown below. It is bolted through the body with 1/4" grade 8 hardware and a back-up plate. The body can support the bar, but is not strong enough to handle the force exerted on the bracket during towing. That's why it needs to ultimately rely on the front leaf spring, which is about as immovable and any point on the car.
Notice below that the shackle has plenty of clearance top and bottom and floats on the spring.
Below is a bottom view of the assembly on the car:
The most important aspect of how the bar engages the leaf spring is the bracket that attaches it to the stud at the rear of the spring support. This prevents the bar from moving left to right if the car is being towed around a corner where the angle of the rope to the body centerline could be as much as 45 degrees. Any such movement would otherwise tear off the bracket where it attaches to the body. The bracket also prevents vertical movement where the tow bar shackle surrounds the spring.
Another view of the above.
About the biggest risk in attaching a tow rope is the possibility of running over the rope while it's still attached to the bracket. That would instantly rip the bracket off the car. Unfortunately, there is little alternative to the placement of this bracket on Fiat 600 based Fiat-Abarths