Trike Drifters: beauty or madness?

In many adrenalin sports the line between serene heart-pumping wonderfulness and sheer gut-wrenching madness is hard to spot. No matter how many times I look at Trike Drifters videos I’m still not sure where the line lies.

I hadn’t even heard of trike drifting before I came across this local Sydney operation whose aim is to “change Drift Triking forever”. I can’t say I know enough to be able to say if that’s a good thing, but given they are going about it through some pretty lovely engineering and production I applaud them. As I understand it ‘traditional’ drift trike’s basically start at the top of a hill and run down it, with the real skill being in sliding the back wheels around corners (thank you Wikipedia). They generally operate at speeds between 20 and 35km/h.

This Sydney team of industrial and electrical engineers have added a motor and now we’re talking about racing on the flat at 70km/h with the back wheels drifting you around corners. Or spinning on the spot at a speed which makes me dizzy just watching them. The team is also trying to get powered trike drifting recognised as a sport.

Regardless of your interest in motor sports (which for me is minimal) you have to appreciate a local team having the vision and skills to produce such a lovely bit of engineering. Even as a beta, their beast looks pretty cool. The renderings of the finished product are just stunning. And hurling yourself about a track at 70km/h on one of these things with the back wheels sliding out just looks both terrifying and glorious.

One thing is for sure I’ll never look at a toddler’s tricycle the same way again.

3 thoughts on “Trike Drifters: beauty or madness?

  • August 19, 2012 at 11:43 am
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    Hey

    I really appreciate your article on our Trikes.
    We believe even though our trikes are faster then a regular trike, they are safer then a $100 trike hurling down a hill with a set of $30 plastic wheels from Kmart. we offer a Kill switch, oversize disk brakes, custom axle and high quality bearings.
    Considering you are in Sydney, what are your thoughts on coming down and having a try yourself at a Go Kart track when we are up and running?

    Reply
    • August 19, 2012 at 12:40 pm
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      Would love to give it a try when you’re up and running. As Long as I get a helmet! I take your point about the brakes etc, it’s the engineering thought you’ve put into it that really impressed me.

      Reply
  • December 13, 2016 at 8:43 pm
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    Looks like a pretty awesome design but please keep the article real. Conventional drift trikes often reach speeds of 70km/h.

    Reply

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