That in this world there are colors for all tastes is nothing that we don’t know. Hence, a three-wheeled car like the Reliant Robin (or Rialto), with a tendency to overturn just by turning, was in production for almost two decades and was sold even with the knowledge that an empty soda can has much more stability.
At the end of the day, no one can blame someone who is passionate about risk and likes to ride in a three-wheeled car where one of them is in front. In fact, that’s where the problem came from, because we have seen other three-wheeled vehicles in which if the two wheels are in front they are great (a Piaggio MP3, a Yamaha Niken…), and others that had one wheel in front and two in the back and they were authentic misfortune-making machines like the trikes of the ’80s.
Now, knowing this, it is curious to see how a three-wheeled car like the Reliant Robin is the basis for racing preparation and, even more so, how they choose to put a superbike engine in it to make it faster.
It must be said that the original model sought to be a low-consumption utility vehicle in the ’70s, and that is why it had an 848 cubic centimeter engine that offered 40 HP of power for a weight of 436 kg. Thanks to this, it was capable of reaching 136 kilometers per hour, something that only the bravest would try. In addition, consumption was 4 liters per 100, which for those times was not bad at all.
Is putting a superbike engine in a three-wheeled car a good idea?
The fact is that with all the background of this “wonderful” three-wheeled car, the last thing one would think about is putting a more powerful engine in it and doing hill races. But, as we said at the beginning, there are colors for all tastes or tastes for all colors, and that is why someone has considered it a good idea that, in what is perhaps the most unstable car in history, a Honda CBR1000F engine would fit perfectly. Hurricane.
This is the first CRB saga, therefore we are talking about a power above 100 HP, but that is very far from what today’s engines can offer. In any case, with this change of engine, which is still capable of going up to 12,000 RPM and screaming with pleasure while climbing a hill, the available power is almost multiplied by three.
But there is nothing to worry about at all because in addition to seeing that the car has undergone some other modification, such as widening the rear axle and we assume that weight on the passenger side, something that they solved at the time and for the street with bags of cement .
They have also put a large spoiler on it which, as everyone knows, is the first thing to do to improve performance. That and putting a turbo sticker on it… although that is probably part of “Stage 2” of the preparation.
