3 wheeled kit car project. Hayabusa power. Polaris Slingshot beater. Aust made.

Hi All,
We have developed the Tri Pod 1 over the last 3 years to be easily constructed by almost anyone with a fair idea of how a car and a bike fit together.
More importantly perhaps we have designed it be an absolute hoot to drive. Benign but exciting handling, amazing straight line performance thanks to Hayabusa power and stunning brakes partly due to the exceptionally light weight.
Various donor options are available including Honda Blackbird CBR1100XX, Suzuki Bandit 1250 GSF1250S, Kawasaki ZX14 and of course the above mentioned GSX1300R Hayabusa.
Many parts are used from the bike so the best bet is to buy a damaged bike complete. Donors are generally available from $1500 odd for a high kms Blackbird or Bandit. Lower K bikes are usually around $3000 odd.
Driven rather than ridden as it has a steering wheel and three pedals, think of it more as a car missing one rear wheel rather than a bike that has one added. You sit in it rather than on it. It drives very much like a open wheeled race car. Fast low and wide.
Registerable in all states of Australia. Some states as a car, mostly as a bike. Some states require a bike license, most a car. As it is a kit car each example has to be individually engineered as an ICV (individually constructed vehicle). Cost of this work varies but guess on around $1500 or so.
The philosophy behind this design is manifold, but the main idea was just delivering maximum thrills for minimum expenditure. Primarily designed for road use where the last ounce of traction is not required, and lap times are not important. Surely the real measure of a modern road car designed for fun is how much pleasure you get from it driving it at sensible speeds. The Tri Pod delivers in spades as light fun car to chuck around the hills.
The cost of building a clubman style sports car is now close to $50,000 and does not deliver the performance at that price of our lighter, sportier car. Nor will it have a close ratio sequential gear box or an engine delivering 200BHP at 12,000 RPM. Agricultural 5 speed H pattern gearboxes designed for shopping trolleys and course sounding donks revving only to 6 or 7000 put me off and I started designing and building the prototype Tri Pod 10 years ago.
A three wheeler is also a much simpler engineering job for registration.
There are many other areas of cost and time saving during construction due to simpler rear suspension design that is free with the donor, free instruments from donor, brakes, mirrors, etc.
The simpler design overall keeps costs down too.
Some ask about instability and general lack of interest in 3 wheeled cars, surely there must be a fundamental reason why they never took off. Yes there is. They are not the most practical of shapes for storage/carrying (although easier to park in tight spots). With a roof and fully faired rear end they tend to look a bit naff and maybe its just not what people expect a car to look like..???
Come and drive it though and you may just see the light. A 420kg car with plenty of mumbo and crisp handling is a different driving experience all together from driving any kind of so called normal sports car that weighs a tonne or much more let alone sporty sedan that weighs 1600kg plus.
Further info is to be found on our web site, Facebook page, our web forum, our F.A.Q on the website and google searches in general for Tri Pod Cars.
The auction listing price is for a chassis (full current Gen 2 version to suit either ZX14, ZX14R, Busa Gen 1 or Busa Gen 2), fully completed, sheeted, and painted (your choice of colour) ready to start bolting parts onto. All the parts you need to get it rolling are also included (excluding your donor motorcycle)
These parts include -
Wishbones
Uprights and Hubs
Rotors and brake calipers
Various brackets for caliper and mudguards
2.4 turns lock to lock steering rack
All ball joints and steering universals
Steering column, wheel and Boss
Various optional aluminium panels
Front wheels and 3 tyres (donor motorcycle wheel used at rear)
A full kit of fasteners that are required to bolt together the front end.
Many other minor bits and pieces required
We also supply all other parts you will need if you choose not to source or fabricate them yourself, such as -
Fuel tank
Radiator
Electric reverse
Wiring loom
Lighting kit
Pedal box and hoses/lines
Etc.
The 9 panels that make up the bodywork are of course available too at a cost of $4995 for a full set (not included in this auction listing).
Much testing has been done on the original prototype (50,000kms total) with drives all over Australia including a trip to Cape York just to prove it wouldn't fall apart and you don't necessarily need a 4WD to get there.
You can contract the building/construction work out to ourselves if you are feeling a bit time poor. All up cost excluding registration varies between $35,000 and $50,000 depending on various specs and donor chosen.
As a DIY job, $25,000 on road (fully registered and ready to drive) is possible, Closer to $30,000 is what most folk spend though.
Kits of course can be shipped almost anywhere in the world. Approx cost on the East Coast of Australia is $1000 - $1700. International from AUD$3000. Crate is 2800mm x 1350mm x 1050mm.
Thanks for taking the time to read this info and feel free to ask questions.
Andrew Hutchison, Designer.

Also published at eBay.com.au