Wingho Auto Transporter

Witness the future of trailer design, the Wingho Auto Transporter. A Trailer concept catapulted into the next century. Sensually sculpted lines, aerodynamic and exciting, this open-top trailer will transport your car collection.

The most favorite topic of discussion between my son Hugh and I in the early 90s was about the dream of an ideal trailer for all the many racing and prototype cars we designed and built:

• Trailer must have a distinctive and unique visual design
• Trailer must be light and able to be towed by a standard SUV or small truck
• Trailer should have twin axle, torsion bar suspension, electric braking
• Loading and unloading can be executed by a single individual

One of the most remarkable design in nature is the shape of an egg, It is so simple yet so strong with a thin shell structure. We started our first prototype by following the shape of an egg and eventually ended up with a semi-monocoque design. All conventional trailers were based on a heavy strong platform with a square looking superstructure. They are not only heavy but aerodynamically inefficient. They will not only create drag but also very sensitive to the side wind. In our case, the nose and the complete bottom of the trailer were fabricated in bonded fiberglass and the top section reinforced by bent stainless steel tubings and an integrated Targa roof. The rear gate is a modified hind section of a Porsche 928 from the many donor cars used in our 928 Spyder project. The 4 trailer wheels are fully enclosed to achieve minimum drag.

The nose section resembles that of an egg, giving it a modern streamlined look as well as forming a necessary protection for the cars inside. The section between the nose and the Targa roof is opened. As a result, the trailer is practically insensitive to the side wind, unlike most of the conventional counterpart. As an added bonus, this also allows people to visually appreciate the beautiful prototypes and race cars we designed as evidenced by the numerous attempts by people taking pictures while we were cruising along with our towing package. Targa roof adds rigidity and a distinctive character to our design. A high efficient solar panel is mounted on the rooftop. This provides the necessary charges to the batteries for operating all the electrical equipment and accessories on board.

This trailer has never failed to be an interesting conversation piece with Porsche enthusiasts everywhere we went.

PROTOTYPES:
The first prototype built in May 1996 was principally made of fiberglass, for the initial shape development. It weights 1182 Kg. The second prototype finished in March 1997 was made of welded sheet steel box section for the monocoque structure experiment. It weights 1337 Kg. The rigidity of both the prototype trailers is remarkable, not to mention their amazing stability.

RECENT DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS:
It is always a challenging exercise to park or back up a trailer into a tight parking position. A new design has been almost perfected to incorporate a retractable front wheel, not dissimilar to that of an aircraft front landing gear. The complete front assemble has its own electric drive and steering mechanism. Once the trailer is decoupled from the towing vehicle and the front wheel assembly dropped; the trailer can be maneuvered self-propelled into any tight parking spot simply by operating the remote control. Solar panel supplies all the necessary electrical energy required for such operation through the batteries. The trailer will in the future, have a unique load sensor to indicate the tongue weight for each towing operation. Many accidents occurred due simply to poor loading of the trailer and insufficient tongue weight to achieve best stability.