In a recent article on hagerty.com/media, the editorial arm of Hagerty (SCCA’s official insurance partner) Hagerty’s writer Sajeev Mehta asked a very pertinent question: What are the essential tools for a road-trip tool kit? With the SCCA® Track Night in America® Driven by Tire Rack season now in full swing, this article really hit home, and begs the question: What tools are an absolute necessity when hitting the road for a motorsports adventure?
“Personally,” Mehta writes, “I have a go-bag with just about every tool I could need, and it does double duty for junkyard runs or visits to friends in need of mechanical assistance. It came in handy during my time on the Lemons Rally last year. But I brought more tools than I needed for that journey, as overpacking can help others on a trip as wild as a Lemons Rally.”
He then goes on to say that on one trip, an angle grinder and a portable power bank came in clutch during a problematic alternator change. Granted, that’s a pretty extreme fix, but it goes to show that sometimes the same old tools aren’t all that are called for during a road trip.
During a 2025 SCCA Targa event that aligned with one Track Night, two SCCA Staffers hit the road in the company’s Club Spec MX-5 with little more than a tiny ratchet set, a torque wrench, zip ties, a jack stand, and a few bottles of motor oil. Was it enough? Despite them forgetting to pack a jack and tire gauge, the trip turned out fine. Still, they were a touch on the nervous side because had anything gone wrong, they knew we’d be MacGyvering solutions.
Back to the article on Hagerty’s website: Mehta doesn’t give a definitive list of needed tools. Instead, he asked the readers to drop their essentials into the comments section. The results didn’t fail. One person commented that for any trip to the junkyard, he packs a compressor and a cell phone. “There is nothing that can’t be fixed with either,” he said. To which someone replied: “A credit card can be handy as well.”
Diving deeper in the comments, tire plugs, deep socket set, end wrenches, spark plug socket, and vice grips certainly seemed to cover the bases, with another comment suggesting battery jumper cables might be a good idea.
Beyond a jack and tire gauge, what additional tools did the SCCA Staff wish they'd taken on their adventure last year? Now knowing everything that Mother Nature had in store for that week, they say towels would have been an amazing addition. Also, duct tape and definitely a funnel.
Then when you’re done with that, build your own road-tip tool bag and join us at an upcoming Track Night in America Driven by Tire Rack event!
Photo courtesy Sajeev Mehta / Hagerty
