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Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
The Cg on a trike projected as a 45 degree cone to the ground forms a circle, and that circle *must* be within the triangle formed by the tire contact patches.
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This assumes a 1 G maximum cornering speed, and neglects aero downforce. The principle is correct, though.
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This DeltaWing is technically not a trike, but it might as well be. Under hard braking and hard cornering at the same time would really threaten the stability of this layout.
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True, but you don't need to do that.
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It is odd that *both* the stability and the aerodynamics would be better if the two (widely spaced) wheels were in the front. Then the wheelbase could be shorter because the weight shift under hard braking and hard cornering would move the Cg closer to the wide track wheels and this would be far more stable.
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If the widely spaced wheels were at the front, and the CG were near the rear, your 45 degree cone would fall outside the triangle. If the CG were near the front, you'd need FWD or AWD for any sort of decent acceleration.
As to the aerodaynamics of widely spaced rear wheels, if you assume a single, eenveloping body, you're right. If you think of the main body and each rear wheel as separate teardrops, then the wide space rear wheel setup looks pretty good.