I’ve been busy and haven’t posted here in a looong time, but I have a little goofy project that I’d love to get some feedback on. Sorry, it’s not exactly housing related, but I would appreciate the expertise that is out there anyway, LOL. Some good old seat of the pants engineering will be great!

I race cars, and I have a trailer to get my car (an old RX-7) to the track. (I’ll toss in a pic of the car for those who might be amused)

The car loads into the trailer on some pretty simple ramps I whipped up in a rush one day- 2 x 10s with 2 x4s on edge Gorilla glued and screwed to the 2 x 10s. Overall length is 12 ft. In the picture, you can see (it’s propped up on a cinder block to approximate the usual ramp level) the bevel cut at the tip.

Trouble is, the darn things are REALLY heavy for my friendly volunteer helpers, and are one use items, as they are “U” shaped on the bottom.. If they could be used upside down as long spacers/ramps on the flat ground at the track, I could get a jack under the car much more easily. Filling in the 9.25″ x 2″ void would make them even heavier though. They handle the cars weight easily though.

So, (thanks for bearing with me here!), here’s what I’d like;

12′ x 12″, but flat top and bottom, about 3″ plus or minus thick, and a gentle bevel at one end. And lighter.

I was thinking of using a box beam design and relatively thin multi ply plywood.

The car weighs 2350 with me and gas, and for the sake of discussion has pretty much equal balance, so lets say thats 600lbs per wheel. The entire car will be on the ramps at one time (as opposed to one axle at a time), and the contact patch is about 8″ wide by 2″ long, so about 16 sq inches per tire. (40psi load, or thereabouts)

So, what’s the smart design? I’d like lightness and dual purpose, and I am willing to do some work, and spend some money, but… but carbon fibre is out, as is aluminum….I can’t weld it, and it’s pretty $$$

Thanks!