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No, no motorcycle engines for me. 150hp per litre might sound good, but they do that at sky high revs, have wild camshafts, and get worse highway economy then a lot of cars. A 6spd sequential box would be cool though
Some of you also seem to be missing the point that if I start with a FWD car there are an awful lot of things that are already done for me. Front suspension, brakes, all the wiring except the rear lights (which can be salvaged bike units hooked up to stock wiring), a road legal lighting system, the basis of the front end body work, the cooling system, it's all there.
If I start with a bike, I need to make all of that from scratch, along with modify the bikes rear end to cope with the much increased side loads. The only advantage I end up with is a tachometer that goes to 12,000rpm, a 6 speed sequential box (which I need to somehow get reverse out of), awesome noise, and probably an overall lighter vehicle. RWD does not concern me in a 3 wheeler, and is potentially far more dangerous in a low grip situation.
I am prepared to sacrifice 200kg and a dozen or so MPG to not have to make a lot of that stuff. And car engines are generally capable of a lot more power if I do end up wanting more speed. To get 500hp out of a B18C/H22A/SR20/4A-GE is a known thing. Trying to screw that much out of a bike (and it's specific and not very interchangeable gearbox) would be quite the engineering feat.
Economy is important, but so is ease of construction, and I'm thinking of making something that has more than one purpose. An economical commuter that can lay waste to everything at a track day. Normally those two goals would be at odds with eachother, but a race car without downforce and a single person commuter don't have to be that different.
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