Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ink-35341.html
I have a suspicion we haven't heard more about this due to scary handling brought on by the built-in rear weight bias.
P.S. I'd wager if those a-arms were flipped or switched left to right to move the front wheels back a few inches the improvement in stability would be noticeable.
|
That was a beautifully crafted project, needed some fairings or pizza pans on those front wheels though.
Did he have brakes on those front wheels?
With such a low weight I would guess it didn't get too scary unless he pushed the limits of lateral adhesion of those knobby tires. Meaning he might not have much fun messing around and had to behave himself.
My biggest worry with something that light are the same concerns I had with my 1978 400cc Honda Hawk, sand dumped in the middle of a turn by some stupid hauling truck.
The Hawk came out just before the fat rounded tire era for performance motorcycles. You just rode on the rib transition between the bottom and side of tire and fought the frame flex. Twice I lost that battle when hitting sand and put her down on the side. Not a pleasant experience. At least the sand acted as little ball bearings and I slid along with the bike.
EDIT:
Photo of a similar layout and weight bias...................not sure what it means.
http://www.deansgarage.com/2012/ron-...turbo-phantom/
Quote:
|
The Turbo Phantom during government skid pad tests.
|
Quote:
The Government testing was done by Paul Van Valkenberg. Paul worked for Chevrolet on their racing enterprises, and has written several books on race car suspension and handling. He wanted to test all the possible variations of three-wheel cars, but there were no front drive three-wheelers, so he made one out of a Honda Civic by replacing the back wheels with one in the middle. A real odd duck to see it driving around.
A group of execs left Subaru to try and start another car company based in China. They wanted to do the same thing: import a new car to the U.S. I got the job of designing the car, made up proposals, and got 50,000 shares of the new company for my effort. So what happened? GM bought the Chinese company and took over production. We were left out in the cold.
Today the Phantom is in my Arizona garage waiting for me to finish the restoration necessary to get it back into running condition. Perhaps this time it will be painted a Cadillac Pearl Red.
|