"Tip over and skid limits of three... wheel vehicles"

[Sven7]

http://www.ihpva.org/HParchive/PDF/45-v13n2-1998.pdf

For all you theorists and builders out there, there are some interesting points regarding tadpole design and balancing. I presume that with enough work with these concepts you could design a trike that would be very unlikely to tip over. Maybe?

Page 8-9

[oil pan 4]

This is why you don't want the one wheel up front design:

1:36, "reliant enthusiast" carved on grave yard tomb stone. Just a warning, you may die from laughter at 4:21.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB64KkEhU9U

"Tip over and vibrate"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-N5fyxwHBw

Real world situational testing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nORCM9rMvBo

[NeilBlanchard]

This is the article I refer to on 3 wheeled design:

Dynamic Stability of Three-Wheeled Vehicles in Automotive-Type Applications

[freebeard]

None of the formulae account for the distance between CG and the notional roll center.

Originally Posted by TFA

The significance of the roll center can only be appreciated when the vehicle's center of mass is also considered. If there is a difference between the position of the center of mass and the roll center a moment arm is created. When the vehicle experiences angular acceleration due to cornering, the size of the moment arm, combined with the stiffness of the springs and anti-roll bars (anti-sway bars in some parts of the world), dictates how much the vehicle will roll. This has other effects too, such as dynamic load transfer.

[basjoos]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

This is why you don't want the one wheel up front design:

The Reliant Robin is a poorly designed one-wheel-in-front 3-wheeler since its front mounted engine puts way too much weight over the front wheel. The Bob Keyes designed Vigilante and Trivette one-wheel-in-front 3-wheelers are rear engined and so are much more stable and will slide well before reaching their tip over limit. The Trivette can pull 0.77g on the skid pad and has a theoretical tip-over limit of 1.28g. The 700 hp V-8 powered Vigilante pulls 1 g on the skid pad and has a theoretical tip-over limit of 3.27g.

[freebeard]

http://www.barris.com/carsgallery/kustomshotrods/turbosonic.php

Built in the early 60’s, the Turbo-Sonic was designed as the 25th century three-wheel racing car to develop speeds of 300 mph in a quarter mile racing strip powered by a 50 pound fuel burning turbine engine that can reach 1,000 horsepower.

1000hp/50lb = The Real Acme

[botsapper]

Not technically a three wheeler, but the delta-shaped Nissan Zeod with its extremely narrow front track and wide rear track (30 -70 weight distribution) is quite an exception in its unexpected handling dynamics. The torque vectoring at the rear wheels make the biggest difference in giving it great handling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyON3M9P3eU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKs6r...Vmg2rA_cRgZkFg

[oil pan 4]

So if the robin would have had a mid engine or rear engine and transaxled like an air cooled VW or fiat it would have been perfect?

[freebeard]

As the programmers say — for certain values of 'perfect'.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=InlFaERcPeA