Malcolm Newell's Tilting Three-wheeler (TTW)

This experimental machine was built in the early 1990's. Malcolm believed that this layout would give superior grip to a conventional 2-wheeler and allow the full performance of the device be exploited with a greater level of safety than was possible with a two-wheeler.

It was clear that for the best possible handling and road-holding any 3-wheeled device should have two wheels at the front, like a Morgan, rather than at the rear like a Reliant, but Malcolm's creation had the added advantages of a very narrow track, combined with front wheels that move independantly, thus allowing the machine to lean through corners.  The front wheels linked by a rocker so that as one wheel rises the other moves downwards.  This arrangement reduces the risk of over-turning, which would be inevitable with a conventional vehicle with a similarly narrow track width.

This prototype used a early Honda VF750 shaft-drive engine.  

Malcolm allegedly ran this machine on the lanes around his Wiltshire home in order to test the layout as the design evolved, however the project was unfinished at the time of his death and, although others vowed to continue with it, it has subsequently suffered the fate of so many of his creations and been lost to obscurity.

Since this time there has been considerable interest in tilting three-wheelers with both Mercedes and BMW building their own, (largely unsuccessful) versions, but, as always, Malcolm did it first.

Last updated 31st  October 2004