I wonder if... you could take some of the new "Delta Wing" LeMans / Indy race car design ideas and apply them to a 3-wheeler "Morgan-ish" layout - but reverse the design so the pointy end of the body and cockpit were at the front? Gary
If I understand the Delta Wing concept, it is primarily driven by aerodynamics, i.e. by each part of the body having a frontal area smaller than the one behind it the aerodynamic effect of forward parts on rearward parts in reduced. The rediscovery of the effect of drag implicit in this represents something of a departure from recent thinking about aerodynamics in racing, which has concentrated almost solely on downforce. Nevertheless, I cannot see how the concept can mitigate the effects of what is basically a wildly oversteering platform except by locating the centre of downforce to compensate. Perhaps 60Plymouth knows something about this?
Greetings There is old footage of Jappic here http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=19418 Lots of interesting stuff on the Pathe site if you search for the right thing best of luck with the recreation!!
About handling. Some of it kind of deep. http://www.rqriley.com/3-wheel.htm http://www.rqriley.com/suspensn.htm
Jappic recreation Brief update , I have made a test chassis side from 3 layers of 9 mm ply , the real thing will be 4 layers of ten mm ash , this was a test of construction method, , it's very stiff , I have almost drawn up the spring mounts for the front and rear springs , these will initially be laser cut from 3 mm mdf to test then once everything works they will be final water jet cut from steel I think I have sused the wheels using sidecar/ speedway hubs from talon engineering, Rear axle and bearings are from 25 mm kart stuff Brakes on the rear only will be cable operated Austin 7 drums and parts as these are all available , Engine , still trying to find a decent 350 ohv twin port jap, but have enough to build a mock up to get on , Gearbox still looking for a sturmey archer CS gearbox This weekend is Prescott hill climb , possibly the best event on the vintage sports car club calendar , so may find some stuff at the auto jumble, Then next week should start making the chassis rails if the wood has arrived
I'm familiar with that site. It's very reverse-trike-oriented and therefore concentrates far more on issues of stability against toppling over than on fore-aft balance, which has long been the cornerstone of four-wheel suspension tuning. With any three-wheeled layout one has the problem that there can be no lateral weight transfer at the single wheel, and as total weight transfer is purely a function of cg height, track, and lateral acceleration, it follows that all the weight transfer goes to the outer wheel of the two-wheel axle. One does not have the opportunity to desquash the outer tyre that is getting into trouble by squashing the one at the other end of the vehicle. That is a pretty serious handicap. By the way, there is another way of expressing the resonant frequency formula given in the second article: F = 3.13 x √(K/M), where F is resonant frequency in Hertz K is spring rate in lb/in M is mass supported by the spring in lbs
Gearbox still looking for a sturmey archer CS gearbox Adrian,what do these look like and how much power can you put to them? I'm surprised there aren't any being reproduced...or is there not that much call for them? Bob
Ade - could you use a pre-unit gearbox from a 40's - 50's Norton or Triumph? Seen plenty on eBay for £100 - £200.
The gearbox should be a hand change type rather than foot change type, to be authentic, from mid 1920's On the handling of three wheelers it seems no one has told the Morgan racers that their cars don't handle, as they make up all their time in the corners, maybe it's the same physics that says bumble bees can't fly,
On the contrary, in a Vintage context the three-wheeled layout has several intrinsic advantages. But once one gets into rarified strata of dynamic sorcery one misses the fourth wheel
What I notice about my trike is that the turn-in is rapid and steering is very sharp but the turning circle and reversing turns are awful.
The British road tax "system" has a lot to answer for: is not one of its outcomes three wheel "cars" which qualified as lower taxed "motor cycles"? And don't get me started on the RAC horsepower ratings which produced the tall, thin cylindered 4 cylinder engine. Blecch!
I've had a month to dream, stew, and fret about the Laboratoire and building a reasonable facsimile of one for my very own. I've searched for construction photos and drawings but have found nothing. It would be simple enough to construct a tube space frame and clad it with aluminum panels, but I would like to see the monocoque scheme; we have the capability to do both in our basic "hobby" shop, and while the tube-frame approach would be the simpler, the monocoque scheme could be much more satisfying -- so long as we weren't traveling what might be an untrodden path of development in the car's day. My incarnation for the car includes an 1100cc DOHC four-cylinder, water-cooled motorcycle engine with an integral five-speed transmission, driving through a narrowed lightweight, live-axle differential -- elements that exist in our project donor inventory. I realize that this project won't fit well with some of the folks on this thread, and I apologize to them up front for straying some distance away from the spirit of the true cyclecars. I'd greatly appreciate any construction information that anyone could provide, however. This project is at least a year away; I have three-wheeler just beginning work now, one I've been planning and designing for nearly ten years, and it's not likely that a wrench will be turned on any other project until this one is on the road. Thanks in advance for construction details on the Laboratoire ; I'll put them in my project folder for next year. Mike
Here are some images from the GP retro du Puy Nortre Dame 2012.The excellant pics are by Achille. Morgan Super Aero
Apologise for what? That is going to be a magnificent build. And if I manage to find any information you'll be getting it never fear for a moment that you won''t.
The Jalopy Journal
