GCR’s CR-1 all-carbon-fiber trailer has the tech of an F1 car … and the price tag to match

By Joe Mahan Published April 7, 2014

Camping is a hassle. With RVs and trailers, however, the mess of folding up a soggy tent in the morning disappears. Instead, just imagine walking out of an extremely lightweight, all-carbon-fiber luxury trailer and into the amazing outdoors.

Global Caravan Technologies (GCT), is the proud manufacturer of the new, 35-foot long, tow-behind trailer, called the CR-1. The company is based in Speedway, Indiana, and has been taking lightweight materials to a the camping world for a year now.

Working with Indycar Series builder Dallara, GCT was able to successfully develop the monstrous pieces of carbon fiber needed for the 35-foot monocoque chassis. With all of that carbon fiber, the price tag shouldn’t resemble anything coming out of a traditional trailer park. And it doesn’t.

A fully-loaded CR-1 will cost you $770,000. Arguably, this is a staggering number, but not unheard of in the RV industry. The price tag will get you full-height closets, walk-through master bath, 700-watt solar power system, integrated generator, run-flat tires, adjustable-tint privacy glass … and the whole thing can be operated from your choice of Apple, Android, or Windows phone.

GCT states that the CR-1 should weigh in at 6,000 pounds, which is about half of the weight of current mass-market trailers. This means the CR-1 should return 100 to 150 times the fuel economy of competitors.

The CR-1 has no screws or fasteners, and instead the entire body and monocoque are bonded together. This makes it one of the stiffest trailers around.

Now this is something I could happily drive to the Daytona 500.

(Photo credit: Global Caravan Technologies)

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Joe Mahan is an intern at Digital Trends working in the Cars section. He is currently a Junior at the University of Portland…

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