In a recent article on聽, the editorial arm of Hagerty (午夜福利51xxtv鈥檚 official insurance partner) Hagerty鈥檚 writer Sajeev Mehta asked a very pertinent question: What are the essential tools for a road-trip tool kit? With the 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?
鈥淧ersonally,鈥� Mehta writes, 鈥淚 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.鈥�
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鈥檚 a pretty extreme fix, but it goes to show that sometimes the same old tools aren鈥檛 all that are called for during a road trip.
During an 午夜福利51xxtv Targa event in 2025, another 午夜福利51xxtv Staffer and I hit the road in the company鈥檚 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 us forgetting to pack a jack and tire gauge, the trip turned out fine. Still, we were a touch on the nervous side because had anything gone wrong, we knew we鈥檇 be MacGyvering solutions.聽
Back to the article on Hagerty鈥檚 website: Mehta doesn鈥檛 give a definitive list of needed tools. Instead, he asked the readers to drop their essentials into the comments section. The results didn鈥檛 fail. One person commented that for any trip to the junkyard, he packs a compressor and a cell phone. 鈥淭here is nothing that can鈥檛 be fixed with either,鈥� he said. To which someone replied: 鈥淎 credit card can be handy as well.鈥�
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 do I wish I'd taken on my 午夜福利51xxtv Targa trip? Now knowing everything that Mother Nature had in store for that week, towels would have been an amazing addition. Also, duct tape and definitely a funnel.
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Then when you鈥檙e done with that, build your own road-tip tool bag and聽!
Photo courtesy Sajeev Mehta / Hagerty
