---
title: "Here’s the Winning Design for the Hayabusa-Powered Darkside Three-Wheeler"
description: "Crowdsourced car design is definitely a risk, but the result here is pretty sharp."
date: "2021-01-12"
modified: "2021-01-12"
authors:
  - name: "Máté Petrány"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/mate-petrany"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/38568/heres-the-winning-design-for-the-hayabusa-powered-darkside-three-wheeler"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "Darkside"
  - "Frank Stephenson"
  - "James Russell"
  - "Rob Moon"
---

# Here’s the Winning Design for the Hayabusa-Powered Darkside Three-Wheeler

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2021/01/Announcing-The-WINNER-Of-The-DRKSD-Competition-5-33-screenshot.png>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

The Darkside is an upcoming British three-wheeler [project started by Prodrive engineer Rob Moon](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/35039/the-hayabusa-engined-darkside-three-wheeler-is-what-the-slingshot-couldve-been>), who also hired former Ferrari, Maserati and McLaren design chief [Frank Stephenson](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/38466/cyberpunk-2077-supercar-designer-frank-stephenson-rates-its-cars-and-bikes>) as his styling and production consultant. The crew started by debuting the Darkside's ultralight spaceframe chassis and 275-horsepower Hayabusa engine, then did something unorthodox by announcing the vehicle's final body style would be chosen through a design competition open to the public.

Moon and Stephenson went through hundreds of proposals over the last few months and settled on three final entries from [India, the U.S. and England](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/37724/these-are-the-design-finalists-for-the-turbo-hayabusa-engined-darkside-three-wheeler>). And in the end, it was the design by one James Russell-Owen of the U.K. that won out; Moon described it as "perfectly encapsulating the essence" of the Darkside.

![message-editor%2F1609875490320-announcingthewinnerofthedrksdcompetition2-41screenshot.png](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1609875490320-announcingthewinnerofthedrksdcompetition2-41screenshot.png>)
**YouTube | Frank Stephenson**

![message-editor%2F1610480819971-darksideside.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content-b/message-editor/1610480819971-darksideside.jpg>)
**YouTube | Frank Stephenson**

Now comes the hard part, which includes figuring out the final packaging, plus the way this design can be produced in a cost effective manner with three distinctive trim levels on the menu. Inspired by the Space Shuttle and various sharks, the combination of those lines is now wrapped around a three-wheeler tubular frame. Keep in mind that the most hardcore Darkside RR promises 275 horsepower against a weight of just 530-pounds, body included, which should be quite the experience.

According to his LinkedIn, James Russell-Owen currently works at Princess Yachts as a designer, and being guided by somebody as experienced in this field as Frank Stephenson is certainly a prize in its own right.

https://youtube.com/embed/H-iJo3OgVA0

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## Author
As a fan of old cars, new cars, trains, planes, buses, and you-name-it, Máté can sometimes be seen driving an Autobianchi around Budapest, much to the amusement of the children, mostly. When not time-traveling, he continues to report from the future to his American colleagues, often talking about Lotus, Ozzy Osbourne, or both.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/mpetrany>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/petrany>)