WTF FILE!

[SKYVUE]

Cruisin' on Mulholland today with my Elise and you'll never know what to find!
As I approached the outlook, a stange vehicle was going the other way. The combined speed of the two cars blurred the image, all I saw was that it was very low, fast and had distinct headlights like a Caterham! Was at a Caterham? The vehicle did a "U", maybe I'll see what it is! I slowed down and turned in the outlook, but the unidentified object wanted to taste the Rock Store twisties! So I pulled out behind him.

I had know idea what it is but it has three wheels, two on front one in rear. I'll follow this at a respective distance and check it out. It's a TRI-HAWK!
At least that it says on the cockpit, two seater. It's fast and handled the twisties well, but my Elise had no problem keeping up. Even catching up.


When I got home, I searched and this is what I found:

R&T Road Test -- Trihawk 304

Here's one for the WTF file!

--Hal

[shay2nak]

what an odd looking vehicle

[Noble]

It's got some prehistoric T-rex DNA.

Noble

[Patricko]

Originally Posted by Noble

It's got some prehistoric T-rex DNA.

Noble

I think this one has it beat.

I would love to have one of these

[FLuXeXigeS]

tri-hawk looks like an old school Trex for sure LOL

another for the WTF file...jay is an awesome car guy, and im sure he has no problem gassing this up...but this thing is just nuts...

[Mr. Know]

Originally Posted by FLuXeXigeS

tri-hawk looks like an old school Trex for sure LOL

another for the WTF file...jay is an awesome car guy, and im sure he has no problem gassing this up...but this thing is just nuts...

That's one hell of a CAI!...nevermind...that's the turbo inlet!!

[Patricko]

Originally Posted by Mr. Know

That's one hell of a CAI!...nevermind...that's the turbo inlet!!

That is one of the turbo inlets...it has another on the other side

That car is unbelievably large, it is about 30 feet long and Jay told us it weighs about 10,000 pounds and does a 10 second 1/4 mile

[kestrel74]

!

[FLuXeXigeS]

10sec 1/4 mile on that thing...holy crap hahaha

complete opposite of the Jay Leno semi-car

aptera typ1 - 300-400mpg hybrid...holy $hit!!!

if this thing really happens...i may want one LOL

[Bavarian Motorist]

My guess is a T-rex if it had 'Caterham' head lights...

[Gizmo3000]

interesting reading
were cars of the 80's really THAT pathetic??

"The Trihawk's width became especially apparent in weaving around our slalom pylons, but this didn't keep it from posting a speed of 60.9 mph. To put this in perspective, it's a bit quicker through the slalom than an Audi Coupe or Porsche 924, for instance.

Around the skidpad, the Trihawk was a pusher whether traveling to the left or right. But it understeered its way to an impressively high 0.83g, beaten at our skidpad by precisely four cars: the BMW M1, Ferrari Boxer, Lambroghini Countach and Porsche 930 Turbo. Lofty company indeed.

If you're wondering about 3-wheel braking, consider two things: Front brakes do most of the work anyway, and a race car designer like Bob McKee knows his way around brake systems. An implication of these observation sis the Trihawk earning one of our rare "excellent" brake ratings. Its panic stop distances from 60 and 80 mph were impressively short, at 148 and 250 ft. respectively, with nary a hint of anything but straightline behavior.

Nor is the Trihawk's acceleration anything to be ashamed of. We card-shuffled its raspy flat-4 through the gears to a 0-60 mph time of 10.2 seconds and quarter-mile figures of 17.6 sec at 75.5 mph. This puts the Trihawk just a tick behind the Dodge Charger 2.2, for example, and considerably quicker in acceleration than the other sports coupes compared in our March 1982 issue. "

[Wuffo]

Originally Posted by Patricko

I think this one has it beat.

I would love to have one of these

Used to own a Morgan similar to this one. Found out a three wheeler rides a LOT worse than a four wheeler. The outside tracks of a road are pretty smooth from lots of traffic and tires rolling over it.... BUT the center of the road is very rough in comparison. Unlike a trike your but is bounced up and down with each tar strip etc.. very annoying over long trips. BUT it was a really neat car.

[JoshS]

Originally Posted by FLuXeXigeS

tri-hawk looks like an old school Trex for sure LOL

another for the WTF file...jay is an awesome car guy, and im sure he has no problem gassing this up...but this thing is just nuts...

No Front tag, I'm shocked at Jay!

[apk919]

Originally Posted by FLuXeXigeS

tri-hawk looks like an old school Trex for sure LOL

another for the WTF file...jay is an awesome car guy, and im sure he has no problem gassing this up...but this thing is just nuts...

Is that an Allison V12?

[Pestodude]

Originally Posted by apk919

Is that an Allison V12?

Isn't it a helecopter engine?...Or is that a diffrerent one of his cars?
ONE of the cool things about living in Southern California (besides the amazing canyon roads, beaches, mountains, desert, hot cars, hot women, etc) is being able to take a beautiful drive up to the Rock Store on a Sunday morning and hang out with f**king Jay Leno! And see and talk about whatever mind blowing car or bike he's brought that day!

[Tintin]

Originally Posted by Gizmo3000

were cars of the 80's really THAT pathetic??

Yes

Tires as well as engines have come a long way since then. I remember when a car that could do a sub 5 second 0-60 time was a "supercar". These days it seems as if all the expensive kid haulers can do that now.

[apk919]

Originally Posted by apk919

Is that an Allison V12?

Originally Posted by Pestodude

Isn't it a helecopter engine?...Or is that a diffrerent one of his cars?
ONE of the cool things about living in Southern California (besides the amazing canyon roads, beaches, mountains, desert, hot cars, hot women, etc) is being able to take a beautiful drive up to the Rock Store on a Sunday morning and hang out with f**king Jay Leno! And see and talk about whatever mind blowing car or bike he's brought that day!

Actually, it seems to be a Continental tank engine!
Tank vs. Crank (Jay Leno vs. Abrams M1A1)