Do Morgan / Triking / JZR 3 wheelers roll easily

[Shoestringracer]

Forgive me as I am a little tired and emotional after a climatic day...

However, I was just chatting with a guy in the pub. He was telling a story about a friend of his who had a Triking (Morgan-style 3 wheeler, ie two wheels at the front). This friend had swerved to avoid something or other and the car had tipped up onto 2 wheels and very nearly rolled. In my slightly confused state this seems unlikely. Wouldn't the rear wheel oversteer round and skitter over the surface?

[EDLT]

Racers don't seem to be worried about flipping
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMHmT8SDnyI&NR=...

[Sam_68]

IIRC, John Ziemba (JZR) withdrew from the market for a couple of years in disgust at a propective customer suing him after breaking an arm when a JZR rolled on a track demonstration.

[slomax]

The Triking Designer nearly rolled his over last year at CPOP-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motorsport/790...

thats the first time i've ever heard/seen one being properly "on the edge" though.

[Roy C]

Single front wheel steering 3-wheelers (Reliant, bond, etc) are more likely to roll, but Morgans, etc seem more stable and have a low centre of gravity.

[AJAX50]

Tendency to roll depends on the distance between the centre of gravity and the centre of roll. I’m not sure where the roll centre is on the back suspension on a Morgan , suspect it’s at the contact patch, if so, thats not good so need to keep weight at the front and suspension very stiff. This maybe could also explain the propensity of single front wheel cars to roll over with their weight at the front, should have been rear engined, bit like a Porsche then!!!!!

[Shoestringracer]

I asked becuase I've always fancied a Triking and I'd like a smaller car (than my Midget!) but I do like to do the odd sprint and hillclimb. I wouldn't be concerned about cornering so fast that it would roll like the racer the video, more that a sudden change of direction, say a half spin, that would be fairly benign in a car, might be all together more problematic if it resulted in being upside-down.

[john2443]

I read at some point that HFS Morgan, who started the company, used to wear leather gauntlets when racing so that if the car nearly tipped over he could push it back! Sounds a bit dodgy, but thats definitely what was claimed!

[Sam_68]

Shoestringracer said:

...I do like to do the odd sprint and hillclimb.

Do check the regs at your local venues. There are only a handful of hillclimbs that allow 3-wheelers to compete.