Thursday 14th September 2006

New three-wheeler hits town

Bike-powered funster hits 60mph in 3.3 seconds

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T-Rex

Is it a bike or a car? It's certainly not a plane -- the T-Rex is a super-quick three-wheeler that gets from 0-60mph in 3.3 seconds.

Powered by a 187bhp Kawasaki 1,400cc engine dropped into its multi-tubular steel chassis frame, it's driven through a sequential six-speed close-ratio gearbox, purpose-designed reverse gear, and uses a rear wheel torque damper. The body is reinforced fibre-glass plastic-sandwich construction, with a carbon fibre windscreen and headrests. Inside are two seats with adjustable backs, and adjustable pedal box, and three-point retractable safety belts.

Built in Canada, it's never been seen officially in the UK -- until this coming weekend. Previews are likely to be at Piccolino Restaurant, Virgina Water, on Friday evening and at the British SuperBikes Silverstone at the weekend and possibly London's Finsbury Square next Monday lunchtime.

The purpose of the tour is to see the reaction of potential buyers in the UK and, if favourable, it should be road legal for the UK by summer 2007. It'll cost some £30,000.

The Canadian site link is below; the UK site (same URL but .co.uk) is not yet ready.

• www.go-t-rex.com

[604]

money permitting Id definately buy...

[barry sheene]

30K, blimey, you could get 3 motorbikes for that price.... (and they wouldn't get stuck in traffic)..

Can't see the point m'sel.

[fuoriserie]

Must have seen the original prototype in 1992/1993, and it's amazing it still around after all these years.

If you compare it to the Grinall Scorpion it will loose on looks, engine options, and prices.

It has potential if the prices go down quite a bit and it's facelifted, but the Scorpion would be my choice as it stands.

Looking forward to a cheaper version...

[jon-]

For 30k you can buy an r500 which has twice as many tyres at the back and will probably somewhat faster over a lap...

[darthPaddington]

is it just me that worries about visability..

article said:

with a carbon fibre windscreen and headrests.

[lathamjohnp]

jon- said:

For 30k you can buy an r500 which has twice as many tyres at the back and will probably somewhat faster over a lap...

Used-car-cheaper-than-new-car-shocker!

R500s were nearer 40k specced up when new. And IIRC about 13k of that is for the engine (which is either impressive or scary, depending on your perspective).

For 3-wheeled novelty, I think I'd rather have a Carver (whose website quotes 30k EUROs).

John

[hendry]

An ugly looking irrelevance that will soon be dead. Not unlike it's namesake.

[oppressed mass]

604 said:

money permitting Id definately buy...

.....something else

[sidesauce]

hendry said:

An ugly looking irrelevance that will soon be dead. Not unlike it's namesake.

I don't think so. There's a large biking community in Southern California and I know plenty of people who ride these machines.

Edited by sidesauce on Thursday 14th September 12:45

[604]

oppressed mass said:

604 said:

money permitting Id definately buy...

.....something else

okay, so maybe its a bit of an exaggeration that Id put down 30K on this without thinkin twice - but I do like it... it makes a little more sense than a bike IMO and acceleration figures are up there with the fastest of em

[Witchfinder]

This, or the Javan R1? This is clearly quicker in a straight line, and has funky wierdness going for it, as well as bike-engined mentalistness.

The Javan's more conventional, and might be easier to live with.

[qwertyford]

If anyone watched the sky one programme 'fastlane' with that chick off baywatch, where they were cops with ferraris and porsches etc, this 'thing' feature a big part in one of the episodes.

Even though this was one of my favourite programmes, shitty ratings meant sky axed it

[cyberface]

Ridiculous price IMO, regardless of how good it is the price will kill it. I was on the verge of buying a Grinnall Scorpion a few years ago (paid a deposit but circumstances caught me out) and the Grinnall is a *very* good piece of kit, well developed and drives brilliantly.

There's no way this new thing is twice as good as a Scorpion. The Scorpion looks better as well! Only thing I don't know is whether Mark's still building them...

[RTH]

lathamjohnp said:

[quote=jon-]

For 3-wheeled novelty, I think I'd rather have a Carver (whose website quotes 30k EUROs).

John

Available in UK del est early new year £27500 - £34000

www.carver-europe.com

[WIll Ferrari]

T Rex looks awesome, looking at their website they seem to have a big following too.

Probably a bit OTT for many English tastes, but as the urban populus of England becomes more American this outlandish taste may well be the way that the English obease express themselves in years to come. Unless of course Jamie Oliver succeeds in his mission, then we'll continue to dream of Caterham 7s and FireStreams.

[FestivAli]

I think it's kind of cool. Unfortunately, you're always going to have the whole 'it's neither a proper car or a proper bike' argument, with the various pros and cons of ownership of each, but the way I see it is you're getting many of the thrills of bike ownership (all the sounds, the open air naked cockpit kind of stuff) with the car related-benefit of being less likely to fall off. I imaging it'd probably be like driving a ridiculously powered, three wheeled go-kart, and I can't see anything wrong with that.

(How much do Atoms cost though?)

Ali.

[jon-]

FestivAli said:

I think it's kind of cool. Unfortunately, you're always going to have the whole 'it's neither a proper car or a proper bike' argument, with the various pros and cons of ownership of each, but the way I see it is you're getting many of the thrills of bike ownership (all the sounds, the open air naked cockpit kind of stuff) with the car related-benefit of being less likely to fall off. I imaging it'd probably be like driving a ridiculously powered, three wheeled go-kart, and I can't see anything wrong with that.

(How much do Atoms cost though?)

Ali.

Exactly, can i please ask what the point is in this recent 3 wheel'd craze as i'm obviously missing something. You've a factory comprimised setup from stock and while it may fly in a straight line, it only rear contact patch with the road is a rather pathetic 265 section treaded tyre. Why?!?!

Atoms start at 20k, i think it's around £26k for the road legal non-supercharged 220bhp honda engined version.

[cazzer]

Legally have no front number plate.....
Gotta be a plus in these camera infested islands

[cqueen]

Far too expensive.

[mrmaggit]

cyberface said:

Ridiculous price IMO, regardless of how good it is the price will kill it. I was on the verge of buying a Grinnall Scorpion a few years ago (paid a deposit but circumstances caught me out) and the Grinnall is a *very* good piece of kit, well developed and drives brilliantly.

There's no way this new thing is twice as good as a Scorpion. The Scorpion looks better as well! Only thing I don't know is whether Mark's still building them...

Yes he is. Over 300 of them now.