Posted by Florian Wardell | 0 comments
The Carver One
Dear TechHaze readers, a few months ago, Mariano told you what to get me for christmas. Now, I’m going to tell you what to get me for my birthday. It’s called the Carver One. It’s not a car. It’s not a motorbike. Or maybe it’s a little bit of both. In any case, it’s something that even a spoiled James Bond would find cool. Technically, “The Carver is a tilting three wheeled vehicle using an automatic balancing technology to balance the passenger compartment under all conditions”.
To understand this, one must briefly underline one of the fundamental differences between motorbikes and cars: the way they handle turns. When a car turns, the bottom remains (more or less) parallel to the road, resulting in G forces being applied sidewise on the passengers. You can easily experiment this yourself, by driving your car into a tight curve while maintaining a fast speed. The result? Your body will be pushed in the direction opposite to the curve, the “outside”. The inertia of your body wants to continue in a straight line, but you command your car to change directions: the path of your body’s mass and the path of the car cross, resulting in squeezing. It’s called lateral acceleration, and there will be a point where your tire just won’t have enough grip in the road to ensure traction, so be careful.
On a motorbike, turns are handled (and initiated) by leaning in to the curve, resulting in the G force being vertically parallel to your body. Basically, the same force that was pushing you on the side in your car now pushes into your bike seat. This has various benefits, such as reduced car sickness, better grip on the road, and let’s face it, fun. What if you could have car that would handle turns like motorbike?
Hybrids between cars and motorbikes are not new. BMW successfully built a scooter boasting the advantages of a car (a structure around the driver, a windshield and seat-belts) while keeping the advantages of a scooter: the size, agility and cost.
Piaggio, the famous Vespa company, decided to add a third wheel to a regular scooter. The unique feature of the Piaggo MP3 vehicle is that it has most of the riding traits and handling characteristics of a motorcycle with the added advantage of a third “footprint” that dramatically enhances stability and stopping distance. It is different from a standard three-wheel “trike,” which is similar to a motorcycle only in looks and mechanics but not in handling. With a trike, the rigid triangular wheel geometry and consequential inability to lean vastly alters steering technique and reduces cornering ability. Conversely, the Piaggio MP3 advertises a 40-degree lean angle, greater than that of most bikes on the street today.
The Carver One, created by Carver Europe (formerly named Vandenbrink) from the Netherlands, is a hybrid of hybrids. Basically, Carver Europe combined the C1′s roof and security with the MP3′s third wheel. The result? Have a look at Top Gear’s review:
Unfortunately, Vanderbrink went banckrupt after producing just a few hundreds of these. I would buy this over a Smart anytime. As Richard said, “this is the gadget to end all gadgets”. It may not be the fastest car or the most agile motorcycle, but the only thing that can compete with it in terms of coolness is an X-Wing.
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