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75-513: TR3A may refer to: Triumph TR3A , automobile from the United Kingdom TR-3A Black Manta , speculated USAF spyplane [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title formed as a letter–number combination. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to

150-550: A concept car for the British company. Michelotti responded with the Triumph TR3 Speciale, also called the "TR Dream Car". Built by Vignale on an unmodified TR3 chassis, Michelotti's TR Dream Car incorporated many styling cues from contemporary American practice, including tailfins, a full width grille, lidded headlamps in the tops of the front wings, and a two-tone paint treatment. The TR3 Speciale debuted at

225-762: A jump effectively as well as absorb small bumps along the off-road terrain effectively. The severe handling vice of the TR3B and related cars was caused by running out of suspension travel. Other vehicles will run out of suspension travel with some combination of bumps and turns, with similarly catastrophic effect. Excessively modified cars also may encounter this problem. In general, softer rubber , higher hysteresis rubber and stiffer cord configurations increase road holding and improve handling. On most types of poor surfaces, large diameter wheels perform better than lower wider wheels. The depth of tread remaining greatly affects aquaplaning (riding over deep water without reaching

300-428: A live axle does, but represents an improvement because the differential is mounted to the body, thereby reducing the unsprung weight.) Wheel materials and sizes will also have an effect. Aluminium alloy wheels are common due to their weight characteristics which help to reduce unsprung mass. Magnesium alloy wheels are even lighter but corrode easily. Since only the brakes on the driving wheels can easily be inboard,

375-445: A longer car to turn with a given radius. Power steering reduces the required force at the expense of feel. It is useful, mostly in parking, when the weight of a front-heavy vehicle exceeds about ten or fifteen times the driver's weight, for physically impaired drivers and when there is much friction in the steering mechanism. Four-wheel steering has begun to be used on road cars (Some WW II reconnaissance vehicles had it). It relieves

450-547: A tight-radius (lower speed) corner the angular velocity of the car is high, while in a longer-radius (higher speed) corner the angular velocity is much lower. Therefore, the front tires have a more difficult time overcoming the car's moment of inertia during corner entry at low speed, and much less difficulty as the cornering speed increases. So the natural tendency of any car is to understeer on entry to low-speed corners and oversteer on entry to high-speed corners. To compensate for this unavoidable effect, car designers often bias

525-413: A turn of the steering wheel and the rear wheels have a smaller slip angle than the front wheels. However this may not be achievable for all loading, road and weather conditions, speed ranges, or while turning under acceleration or braking. Ideally, a car should carry passengers and baggage near its center of gravity and have similar tire loading, camber angle and roll stiffness in front and back to minimise

600-505: A vehicle provide a centripetal force to pull it around a turn, the momentum of the vehicle actuates load transfer in a direction going from the vehicle's current position to a point on a path tangent to the vehicle's path. This load transfer presents itself in the form of body lean. In extreme circumstances, the vehicle may roll over . Height of the centre of mass relative to the wheelbase determines load transfer between front and rear. The car's momentum acts at its centre of mass to tilt

675-415: A vehicle’s road holding ability. Automobiles driven on public roads whose engineering requirements emphasize handling over comfort and passenger space are called sports cars . The centre of mass height, also known as the centre of gravity height, or CGZ, relative to the track, determines load transfer (related to, but not exactly weight transfer ) from side to side and causes body lean. When tires of

750-539: Is a computerized technology that improves the safety of a vehicle's stability by attempting to detect and prevent skids. When ESC detects loss of steering control, the system applies individual brakes to help "steer" the vehicle where the driver wants to go. Braking is automatically applied to individual wheels, such as the outer front wheel to counter oversteer, or the inner rear wheel to counter understeer. The stability control of some cars may not be compatible with some driving techniques, such as power induced over-steer. It

825-490: Is a principal performance advantage of sports cars , compared to sedans and (especially) SUVs . Some cars have body panels made of lightweight materials partly for this reason. Body lean can also be controlled by the springs, anti-roll bars or the roll center heights. In steady-state cornering, front-heavy cars tend to understeer and rear-heavy cars to oversteer (Understeer & Oversteer explained) , all other things being equal. The mid-engine design seeks to achieve

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900-406: Is also a handling characteristic. Ignoring the flexing of other components, a car can be modeled as the sprung weight, carried by the springs, carried by the unsprung weight , carried by the tires, carried by the road. Unsprung weight is more properly regarded as a mass which has its own inherent inertia separate from the rest of the vehicle. When a wheel is pushed upwards by a bump in the road,

975-419: Is by double wishbones , manganese bronze trunnions , coil springs and telescopic dampers, with an optional anti-roll bar. Steering is a worm and peg system. Unlike MGs of the same period, the steering mechanism and linkage have considerable play and friction, which increase with wear. The rear suspension comprises leaf springs , a beam axle , and lever arm dampers. The (box) frame rails are slung under

1050-448: Is complicated by load transfer , which is proportional to the (negative) acceleration times the ratio of the center of gravity height to the wheelbase. The difficulty is that the acceleration at the limit of adhesion depends on the road surface, so with the same ratio of front to back braking force, a car will understeer under braking on slick surfaces and oversteer under hard braking on solid surfaces. Most modern cars combat this by varying

1125-560: Is considered to help handling. At least it simplifies the suspension engineers work. Some cars, such as the Mercedes-Benz 300SL have had high door sills to allow a stiffer frame. Handling is a property of the car, but different characteristics will work well with different drivers. The more experience a person has with a car or type of car the more likely they will be to take full advantage of its handling characteristics under adverse conditions. Weather affects handling by changing

1200-471: Is estimated that only 9,500 of the original 58,000 built survive today. The "TR3A" is often seen in vintage and production racing today. Despite being over 50 years old, it is still competitive in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) E-production class. In June 1977, Road & Track magazine published an article titled "Driving Impressions: TR3A & TR250 " in its 30th anniversary issue. For

1275-427: Is large enough, the wheel may be temporarily separated from the road surface before it has descended back into contact with the road surface. This unsprung weight is cushioned from uneven road surfaces only by the compressive resilience of the tire (and wire wheels if fitted), which aids the wheel in remaining in contact with the road surface when the wheel inertia prevents close-following of the ground surface. However,

1350-476: Is limited to about 110 mph (177 km/h) by the gear ratio, unless fitted with an overdrive unit. An electrically operated Laycock de Normanville Type A overdrive , operating on second, third, and fourth gears, was offered as an option. The car weighs 2,137 lb (969 kg). After being introduced to Giovanni Michelotti , Triumph managing director Alick Dick invited the Italian designer to produce

1425-506: Is not a concern. A linear spring will behave the same at all times. This provides predictable handling characteristics during high speed cornering, acceleration and braking. Variable springs have low initial springs rates. The spring rate gradually increases as it is compressed. In simple terms the spring becomes stiffer as it is compressed. The ends of the spring are wound tighter to produce a lower spring rate. When driving this cushions small road imperfections improving ride quality. However once

1500-476: Is prominent on many types of racing cars, but is also used on most passenger cars to some degree, if only to counteract the tendency for the car to otherwise produce positive lift. In addition to providing increased adhesion, car aerodynamics are frequently designed to compensate for the inherent increase in oversteer as cornering speed increases. When a car corners, it must rotate about its vertical axis as well as translate its center of mass in an arc. However, in

1575-412: Is that power induced oversteer is useful to a skilled driver for tight curves. The weight transfer under acceleration has the opposite effect and either may dominate, depending on the conditions. Inducing oversteer by applying power in a front wheel drive car is possible via proper use of " left-foot braking ”, and using low gears down steep hills may cause some oversteer. The effect of braking on handling

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1650-481: Is therefore, at least from a sporting point of view, preferable that it can be disabled. Of course things should be the same, left and right, for road cars. Camber affects steering because a tire generates a force towards the side that the top is leaning towards. This is called camber thrust. Additional front negative camber is used to improve the cornering ability of cars with insufficient camber gain. The frame may flex with load, especially twisting on bumps. Rigidity

1725-508: Is undergoing a restoration. The TR3 was campaigned in races, hill climbs, and rallies across Europe and North America, with several outright, team, and class victories to its credit. After the 1955 Le Mans disaster , the French government moved to restrict motorsports to road rallying , then little more than long distance road racing. In response, Triumph competition manager Ken Richardson had steel hard tops bolted to 100 TR3s, homologating

1800-499: The Citroën 2CV had inertial dampers on its rear wheel hubs to damp only wheel bounce. Aerodynamic forces are generally proportional to the square of the air speed, therefore car aerodynamics become rapidly more important as speed increases. Like darts, airplanes, etc., cars can be stabilised by fins and other rear aerodynamic devices. However, in addition to this cars also use downforce or "negative lift" to improve road holding. This

1875-491: The DVLA . British auto magazine The Motor tested a hardtop TR3 with overdrive in 1956. The car returned a top speed of 105.3 mph (169.5 km/h) and could accelerate from 0–60 mph (97 km/h) in 10.8 seconds. A fuel consumption of 27.1 miles per imperial gallon (10.4 L/100 km; 22.6 mpg ‑US ) was recorded. The test car cost £1,103 including taxes. Other figures recorded included: In 1957

1950-608: The Geneva International Motor Show in March 1957. Triumph deemed the car too expensive to put into production, but did give the job of designing the new Triumph Herald to Michelotti. The TR3 Beta is a prototype of a modified version of the TR3 with wider than standard front and rear tracks, revised mechanicals, and modified bodywork with wider front and rear wings. The project is mentioned several times in

2025-565: The Standard Motor Company of Coventry , England. A traditional open two-seater , the TR3 is an evolution of the company's earlier TR2 model, with greater power and improved braking. Updated variants, popularly but unofficially known as the "TR3A" and "TR3B", entered production in 1957 and 1962 respectively. The TR3 was succeeded by the mechanically similar, Michelotti -styled Triumph TR4 . The rugged ‘sidescreen’ TR, so named for its use of removable plexiglass side curtains,

2100-459: The "TR3A" it reported a 0–60 mph (97 km/h) time of 12.0 seconds, power output of 100 bhp (75 kW) at 4800 rpm , observed kerb weight of 2,090 lb (950 kg) and fuel consumption of 28 miles per imperial gallon (10 L/100 km; 23 mpg ‑US ). "TR3B" is the unofficial name given to the final version of the Triumph TR3, which was produced in 1962. It

2175-449: The "wheel bounce" due to wheel inertia, or resonant motion of the unsprung weight moving up and down on the springiness of the tire, is only poorly damped, mainly by the dampers or shock absorbers of the suspension. For these reasons, high unsprung weight reduces road holding and increases unpredictable changes in direction on rough surfaces (as well as degrading ride comfort and increasing mechanical loads). This unsprung weight includes

2250-566: The Beta had also received a new grille and grille surround, wrap around rear bumpers, and tall stone guards. Use of the Triumph Sabrina engine had been considered for the car. After becoming part of Leyland Motors , the TR4 body shell tooling was funded by the new parent company. Work on the Beta was stopped. As of this writing, one of the Beta prototypes is owned by Neil Revington, and

2325-521: The Beta project was being discussed. Yet another suggests that the Beta project was begun because Triumph lacked the financial resources needed to tool up to produce the new TR4 body. The team that produced the Beta was headed by Ray Bates. Work started on the car at Triumph's Capmartin Road (aka Radford) plant, and was later transferred back to their Fletchamstead North site. Team member Ray Henderson took chassis X693, cut it in half lengthwise, and widened

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2400-636: The TR was a popular competitor in continental hill climbs, such as the Ollon Villars and Eberbach Bergrennen, and endurance races like the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Mille Miglia . At the 1959 24 Hours of Le Mans , three extensively modified TR3s, referred to as 'TR3S' models, were run. Resembling the production TR3, the Le Mans cars employed glass fibre body shells, were six inches longer than

2475-484: The TR2 thanks to larger SU H6 carburettors. This was later increased to 100  bhp at 5000 rpm by the addition of a "high port" cylinder head and enlarged manifold. The four-speed manual gearbox could be supplemented by an electrically engaged overdrive, controlled by a switch on the dashboard. In 1956, the front brakes were changed from drums to discs , a first for a British series production car. Front suspension

2550-408: The TR2, TR3, TR3A, TR3B, and TR4, has limited wheel travel. As a result, on very hard cornering, the inside rear wheel can lift, causing sudden oversteer due to the increased load on the outside rear tyre. This is particularly true with radial tyres; the original TR2/3/3A suspension was built for crossply tyres. The wheel lifting is more sudden than that of other cars, because it is caused by coming to

2625-467: The TR3 was updated, and this revised model was commonly referred to as the Triumph "TR3A". The cars were still badged as TR3s, and the "TR3A" name was not used officially, as is evident from contemporary sales brochures. Changes included a new full-width front grille, exterior door handles, and a lockable boot handle. The previously optional full tool kit became standard equipment. The "TR3A" carried over

2700-401: The ability of the suspension to keep front and back tire loadings constant on uneven surfaces and therefore contributes to bump steer. Angular inertia is an integral over the square of the distance from the center of gravity, so it favors small cars even though the lever arms (wheelbase and track) also increase with scale. (Since cars have reasonable symmetrical shapes, the off-diagonal terms of

2775-419: The amount of available traction on a surface. Different tires do best in different weather. Deep water is an exception to the rule that wider tires improve road holding. Cars with relatively soft suspension and with low unsprung weight are least affected by uneven surfaces, while on flat smooth surfaces the stiffer the better. Unexpected water, ice, oil, etc. are hazards. When any wheel leaves contact with

2850-451: The angular inertia tensor can usually be ignored.) Mass near the ends of a car can be avoided, without re-designing it to be shorter, by the use of light materials for bumpers and fenders or by deleting them entirely. If most of the weight is in the middle of the car then the vehicle will be easier to spin, and therefore will react quicker to a turn. Automobile suspensions have many variable characteristics, which are generally different in

2925-408: The axle. Wheels are 15 inches in diameter and 4.5 inches wide (increased from 4 inches after the first few TR2s), with 48-spoke wire wheels optional. Wire wheels were usually painted, either body colour or argent (silver), but matte chrome and bright chrome were also available. Under most conditions the car is responsive and forgiving, but it has some handling issues. The chassis, which is shared by

3000-456: The car forward or backward, respectively during braking and acceleration. Since it is only the downward force that changes and not the location of the centre of mass, the effect on over/under steer is opposite to that of an actual change in the centre of mass. When a car is braking, the downward load on the front tires increases and that on the rear decreases, with corresponding change in their ability to take sideways load. A lower centre of mass

3075-503: The car out of the turn. For this reason, a car with "50/50" weight distribution will understeer on initial corner entry. To avoid this problem, sports and racing cars often have a more rearward weight distribution. In the case of pure racing cars, this is typically between "40/60" and "35/65". This gives the front tires an advantage in overcoming the car's moment of inertia (yaw angular inertia), thus reducing corner-entry understeer. Using wheels and tires of different sizes (proportional to

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3150-416: The car's design digitally then "test" that design on the computer. The coefficient of friction of rubber on the road limits the magnitude of the vector sum of the transverse and longitudinal force. So the driven wheels or those supplying the most braking tend to slip sideways. This phenomenon is often explained by use of the circle of forces model. One reason that sports cars are usually rear wheel drive

3225-642: The car's handling toward less corner-entry understeer (such as by lowering the front roll center ), and add rearward bias to the aerodynamic downforce to compensate in higher-speed corners. The rearward aerodynamic bias may be achieved by an airfoil or "spoiler" mounted near the rear of the car, but a useful effect can also be achieved by careful shaping of the body as a whole, particularly the aft areas. In recent years, aerodynamics have become an area of increasing focus by racing teams as well as car manufacturers. Advanced tools such as wind tunnels and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) have allowed engineers to optimize

3300-573: The chassis. Bates then engineered changes to allow the wider chassis to be built with existing tooling. The car was designated as a TR3B, and just two examples were built; the Black Beta and the Red Beta. In addition to its wider chassis and modified bodywork, the TR3 Beta shared its fully synchronised gearbox, rack-and-pinion steering, and larger engine with the TR4. By late in the project

3375-439: The compressive resilience of the tire results in rolling resistance which requires additional kinetic energy to overcome, and the rolling resistance is expended in the tire as heat due to the flexing of the rubber and steel bands in the sidewalls of the tires. To reduce rolling resistance for improved fuel economy and to avoid overheating and failure of tires at high speed, tires are designed to have limited internal damping. So

3450-433: The distribution of braking in some way. This is important with a high center of gravity, but it is also done on low center of gravity cars, from which a higher level of performance is expected. Depending on the driver, steering force and transmission of road forces back to the steering wheel and the steering ratio of turns of the steering wheel to turns of the road wheels affect control and awareness. Play—free rotation of

3525-499: The effect of angular inertia by starting the whole car moving before it rotates toward the desired direction. It can also be used, in the other direction, to reduce the turning radius. Some cars will do one or the other, depending on the speed. Steering geometry changes due to bumps in the road may cause the front wheels to steer in different directions together or independent of each other. The steering linkage should be designed to minimize this effect. Electronic stability control (ESC)

3600-442: The end of the suspension travel while there is still load on the tyre, so the load on the other (outside) rear wheel is a discontinuous function of cornering load, rather than just changing slope. The TR3 is designed for sunny weather, but with removable rain protection. It has a convertible hood that snaps on and off and removable side curtains, allowing very low doors with padding for the driver's arm to rest on. There are holes in

3675-605: The floor, with rubber plugs, so that the originally supplied jack might be used from inside the car, as in the Jaguar XK120 . The optional heater is poor, and the shut-off valve is under the bonnet . Some 13,377 examples of the original "pre-facelift" TR3 were produced, of which 1,286 were sold within the UK; the rest were exported mainly to the US. As of Q1 2011 there were approximately 826 licensed and 115 SORN TR3/3As registered with

3750-449: The front and rear and all of which affect handling. Some of these are: spring rate , damping, straight ahead camber angle , camber change with wheel travel, roll center height and the flexibility and vibration modes of the suspension elements. Suspension also affects unsprung weight . Many cars have suspension that connects the wheels on the two sides, either by a sway bar and/or by a solid axle. The Citroën 2CV has interaction between

3825-416: The front and rear suspension. The flexing of the frame interacts with the suspension. The following types of springs are commonly used for automobile suspension, variable rate springs and linear rate springs. When a load is applied to a linear rate spring the spring compresses an amount directly proportional to the load applied. This type of spring is commonly used in road racing applications when ride quality

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3900-517: The handling characteristics of vehicles. Advanced wind tunnels such as Wind Shear's Full Scale, Rolling Road, Automotive Wind Tunnel recently built in Concord, North Carolina have taken the simulation of on-road conditions to the ultimate level of accuracy and repeatability under very controlled conditions. CFD has similarly been used as a tool to simulate aerodynamic conditions but through the use of extremely advanced computers and software to duplicate

3975-443: The ideal center of mass, though front-engine design has the advantage of permitting a more practical engine-passenger-baggage layout. All other parameters being equal, at the hands of an expert driver a neutrally balanced mid-engine car can corner faster, but a FR (front-engined, rear-wheel drive) layout car is easier to drive at the limit. The rearward weight bias preferred by sports and racing cars results from handling effects during

4050-415: The inertia of the wheel will cause it to be carried further upward above the height of the bump. If the force of the push is sufficiently large, the inertia of the wheel will cause the tire to completely lift off the road surface resulting in a loss of traction and control. Similarly when crossing into a sudden ground depression, the inertia of the wheel slows the rate at which it descends. If the wheel inertia

4125-425: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TR3A&oldid=977385737 " Category : Letter–number combination disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Triumph TR3A The Triumph TR3 is a British sports car produced from 1955 to 1962 by

4200-570: The last run of TR3As, have a 1991 cc engine and a transmission with no synchroniser on first gear. The TCF series has a fully synchronised transmission and a 2138 cc version of the Standard wet-liner engine with a 9:1 compression ratio. Fitted with two SU H6 carburettors, it makes 105 hp (78 kW) at 4,650 rpm and 172 N⋅m (127 lbf⋅ft) of torque at 3,350 rpm. It gets between 20 and 30 miles per US gallon (11.8 and 7.8 L/100 km; 24 and 36 mpg ‑imp ). Top speed

4275-488: The minutes of the meeting of the Standard-Triumph board on 19 September 1960. Different reasons have been mooted to explain why Triumph created the TR3 Beta. One holds that the Beta predated production of the TR4 chassis, and was solely an attempt to improve the handling of the TR3, with the TR4 a beneficiary of the work done on the Beta. Another points out that work on the TR4 was already underway by 1960, when

4350-729: The new sports car as a "grand touring" coupé, the GT class still permitted to race on French public roadways. A 'grand touring kit' was made available to customers as an optional extra (part No. 554313). TR3s were campaigned in the RAC , Monte Carlo , Circuit of Ireland , Alpine , Liege-Rome-Liege , International Tulip , Scheveningen-Luxembourg, Tour de France , Douze Heures de Huy, Lyon-Charbonnieres, Acropolis , Chimay National , and Corsica rallies, among others, achieving numerous outright, team, and class victories including six "Coupes des Alpes" awards. With its robust engine and rugged reliability,

4425-546: The production vehicle, and were powered by the prototype 1,985 cc (121.1 cu in) Triumph Sabrina engine . The Jopp/Stoop TR3S ran as high as seventh place overall before being forced to retire due to mechanical difficulties with just over an hour remaining in the race. Car handling In the automotive industry , handling and braking are the major components of a vehicle's "active" safety. They also affect its ability to perform in auto racing . The maximum lateral acceleration is, along with braking, regarded as

4500-413: The resistance to lateral weight transfer and body lean. The wheelbase provides resistance to longitudinal weight transfer and to pitch angular inertia, and provides the torque lever arm to rotate the car when swerving. The wheelbase, however, is less important than angular inertia (polar moment) to the vehicle's ability to swerve quickly. The wheelbase contributes to the vehicle's turning radius , which

4575-498: The road surface). Increasing tire pressures reduces their slip angle , but lessening the contact area is detrimental in usual surface conditions and should be used with caution. The amount a tire meets the road is an equation between the weight of the car and the type (and size) of its tire. A 1000 kg car can depress a 185/65/15 tire more than a 215/45/15 tire longitudinally thus having better linear grip and better braking distance not to mention better aquaplaning performance, while

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4650-417: The road there is a change in handling, so the suspension should keep all four (or three) wheels on the road in spite of hard cornering, swerving and bumps in the road. It is very important for handling, as well as other reasons, not to run out of suspension travel and "bottom" or "top". It is usually most desirable to have the car adjusted for a small amount of understeer , so that it responds predictably to

4725-402: The spring is compressed to a certain point the spring is not wound as tight providing a higher (stiffer) spring rate. This prevents excessive suspension compression and prevents dangerous body roll, which could lead to a roll over. Variable rate springs are used in cars designed for comfort as well as off-road racing vehicles. In off-road racing they allow a vehicle to absorb the violent shock from

4800-403: The standard front disc brakes introduced on later TR3s. The car was known for its superior braking ability with its larger tyres (5.90-15 crossply or 165HR15 Pirelli Cinturato), making it an autocross favourite. In 1959 other changes were made to the car, including raised stampings under the bonnet and boot hinges and under the door handles, as well as a redesigned rear floor section. In addition,

4875-458: The steering is particularly important on ice or hard packed snow where the slip angle at the limit of adhesion is smaller than on dry roads. The steering effort depends on the downward force on the steering tires and on the radius of the contact patch. So for constant tire pressure, it goes like the 1.5 power of the vehicle's weight. The driver's ability to exert torque on the wheel scales similarly with his size. The wheels must be rotated farther on

4950-400: The steering wheel before the wheels rotate—is a common problem, especially in older model and worn cars. Another is friction. Rack and pinion steering is generally considered the best type of mechanism for control effectiveness. The linkage also contributes play and friction. Caster—offset of the steering axis from the contact patch —provides some of the self-centering tendency. Precision of

5025-421: The transition from straight-ahead to cornering. During corner entry the front tires, in addition to generating part of the lateral force required to accelerate the car's centre of mass into the turn, also generate a torque about the car's vertical axis that starts the car rotating into the turn. However, the lateral force being generated by the rear tires is acting in the opposite torsional sense, trying to rotate

5100-431: The variation in handling characteristics. A driver can learn to deal with excessive oversteer or understeer, but not if it varies greatly in a short period of time. The most important common handling failings are; Ride quality and handling have always been a compromise - technology has over time allowed automakers to combine more of both features in the same vehicle. High levels of comfort are difficult to reconcile with

5175-431: The vehicle is very short, compared to its height or width, these are about equal. Angular inertia determines the rotational inertia of an object for a given rate of rotation. The yaw angular inertia tends to keep the direction the car is pointing changing at a constant rate. This makes it slower to swerve or go into a tight curve, and it also makes it slower to turn straight again. The pitch angular inertia detracts from

5250-756: The weight carried by each end) is a lever automakers can use to fine tune the resulting over/understeer characteristics. This increases the time it takes to settle down and follow the steering. It depends on the (square of the) height and width, and (for a uniform mass distribution) can be approximately calculated by the equation: I = M ( h e i g h t 2 + w i d t h 2 ) / 12 {\displaystyle I=M(height^{2}+width^{2})/12} . Greater width, then, though it counteracts center of gravity height, hurts handling by increasing angular inertia. Some high performance cars have light materials in their fenders and roofs partly for this reason Unless

5325-406: The wheels and tires, usually the brakes , plus some percentage of the suspension, depending on how much of the suspension moves with the body and how much with the wheels; for instance a solid axle suspension is completely unsprung. The main factors that improve unsprung weight are a sprung differential (as opposed to live axle ) and inboard brakes . (The De Dion tube suspension operates much as

5400-473: The wider tires have better (dry) cornering resistance. The contemporary chemical make-up of tires is dependent of the ambient and road temperatures. Ideally a tire should be soft enough to conform to the road surface (thus having good grip), but be hard enough to last for enough duration (distance) to be economically feasible. It is usually a good idea having different set of summer and winter tires for climates having these temperatures. The axle track provides

5475-467: The windscreen was attached with bolts rather than the Dzus fasteners used on the early "A" models. This year new options included a 2138 cc engine, and 60-spoke wire wheels. The "TR3A" was built between 1957 and 1962. Total production was 58,236 cars, making it the third best-selling TR in its own right. The TR3A was so successful that the original panel press tooling wore out and had to be replaced. It

5550-601: Was a sales and motorsport success. With approximately 74,800 TR3s sold across all variants, the model was the company's third best seller in the TR range, behind the TR7 (111,500 units) and TR6 (94,500 units) models. Although the base car is an open two-seater, an occasional rear seat and bolt-on steel hard top were available as extras. The TR3 is powered by a 1,991 cc (121.5 cu in) Standard wet liner engine . This OHV straight-four initially produced 95 bhp (71 kW; 96 PS), an increase of 5 hp over

5625-623: Was sold concurrently with the TR4, which started production in 1961. The "TR3B" was a special short-production run in response to dealer concerns that the buying public might not welcome the TR4. The appearance of most "TR3B"s is identical to that of the late US-model "TR3A", with the same wider headlamp rims, wider grille, and door handles. Two series of this version were made. 530 cars with a commission number preceded by TSF were produced, 29 of which were built as Triumph Italias. 2,804 cars were produced with commission numbers preceded by TCF. Both series were partly produced in parallel. The TSF cars, like

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