Formdesign’s Dan Ellis on the Design of the new R3 Concept by T3 Motion
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Named R3 for Revolutionary 3 wheel vehicle is a concept conceived as a Sports car to satisfy the needs of the contemporary auto/motorcycle enthusiast . It is a motorcycle due to its 3 wheel configuration. It does however have 4 tires, meaning 2 tires on the 1 rear wheel, plus these tires are really high quality, they can be found in some of the best tire dealers. This is done to give the vehicle stability, and is the concept of Ki Nam, CEO and President of T3Motion.
Although Ki is not a designer himself, he does have the ability to think outside of the box and direct the design to his desire. Formdesign inc of Rancho Santa Margarita was contracted to do the actual design which involved an intensive sketch program going back and forth until the direction was established. This was done over a 6 month period which also included a couple of scale models.
Dan Ellis of Formdesign states that the process was done exactly the same way the OEM’s do it. Digital models were also in the mix. The full size clay model started as a result of both scale and digital models. Clay is still the best way to refine a model mainly due to having the ability to walk around it and feel the dynamics.
Dan was kind enough to provide us with images of some of the early work to share the process. The clay model was done at Formdesign and upon completion it was transferred to CCCI in Simi Valley for fabrication. All leather and trim work was done by Pecca Leather.
T3 Motion have every intention of going to production with the R3, and are in the engineering and chassis development stages at the present. Numbers and models haven’t been determined and will be based on research and acceptability.
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