The small Canadian company has been building its three-wheeler named Campagna T-Rex since 1995, without much success. Not that the Campagna T-Rex wasn’t exciting enough to drive, but they couldn’t sell it in the United States as a street legal vehicle (and by just looking at this thing, there might be problems with certification in many other countries around the world). Finally, the new management of the company managed to register the Campagna T-Rex as a motorcycle, and the Jay Leno’s Garage tested it on a twisted road in Southern California.
Campagna T-Rex used a number of motorcycle engines mounted in the back: the T-Rex 14R uses a Kawasaki powerplant, while the V13R has a Harley-Davidson engine. The newest Campagna T-Rex has a 1600cc six-cylinder engine coming from BMW Motorrad. The 160 horsepower and 129 pound-feet of torque is brought to the asphalt thorough a six-speed sequential transmission. There are high-end amenities like satellite radio, Bluetooth and USB ports, but the huge engine just behind the cockpit makes any sound system useless.
The Campagna T-Rex is not about comfort touring, but driving fast on twisted roads. With its 1,150-pound weight and wide front stance, the three-wheeler can pull 1.1 g around a skid pad on performance-oriented street tires. It accelerates 0-60 miles per hour in less than four seconds, well in the supercar territory. There is no information on the top speed of the Campagna T-Rex, but this is not very important: it is highly unlikely that an owner will try its luck on a highway. Instead, they will be playing around on small, curvy roads.
The high-end Campagna T-Rex with the BMW engine is not cheap: one should prepare $62,000 to pay for it. The 14R and 13R are more affordable, though. And yes, Jay Leno loves it!