The power of three

Corner my Triking three-wheeler hard and if the tyres were gripping, you judged cornering limits on the inside front wheel; any more than six inches off the ground and things might not end well. Tony Divey, Triking designer (and also Colin Chapman’s chief draftsman) once told me: ‘all three-wheelers are unstable. It’s how you use that instability that’s the important thing’.

Joe Whaler, design and engineering lead on suspension and steering on the forthcoming Morgan Super 3 doesn’t quite concur, although it has to be said that I was driving my Triking in competition not on the road.

‘I’m not sure I agree that they’re all ultimately unstable,’ he says. ‘You only need three things on the ground to stop it falling over and create a stable body, though having [just] three points of contact does decrease your roll-over stability.’