So, Let's Talk Radical

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JohnBM01

JohnBM01

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http://www.radicalmotorsport.com/

You see this website above? Click on it. Like what you see? That's Radical. See this thread you are now in? I created this thread to talk about Radical. My opening question will come at the conclusion of this introduction. If you don't know about Radical, I don't either. But here is a link from their webpage that will tell you about this company: (http://www.radicalmotorsport.com/history.php). It would be too much to fit on for this intro, so read on.

So my question? It's not so much of a question, but an observation. In the United Kingdom, they can be made road legal. Imagine that. A road legal LMP, plus you can bring along a friend for a fun ride through the countryside like Alain de Cadenet in "Victory by Design: Ferrari" with the Ferrari 333SP (that rocked!). How is it possible for these radical Radical cars be street legal in the United Kingdom? Or if you just want to talk about Radical sportscars, here's your thread. Reply on. Remember, this is a general thread about Radical sportscars.
 
I thought this threead said "So, lets talk Radicool". :(

They are awesome cars. I don't think they are as fast as LMPs though.
 
They aren't in the same class as LMPs but they are amazingly fast. Even with just 200bhp they will murder any supercar around a track such is the amazing (2G+) cornering grip.
I believe a hyabusa turbo powered car recently broke some records at the 'ring.
 
mackie
They aren't in the same class as LMPs but they are amazingly fast. Even with just 200bhp they will murder any supercar around a track such is the amazing (2G+) cornering grip.
I believe a hyabusa turbo powered car recently broke some records at the 'ring.
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The Radical SR3T broke the road car track record at the 'ring with a time of 7mins 19secs last year, details and a video can be found on the Radical website.

Press release and photos
http://www.radicalmotorsport.com/news_folder/nordchliefe/index.php

Videos
http://www.radicalmotorsport.com/gallery/index.php


Last year I had 5 laps of Castle Coombe circuit in the passenger seat of a race preped SR3, the raw acceleration of the car was only matched by its cornering speeds, it was a truely amazing experience. If you ever get the chance I strongly suggest you give it a go. Radical race series are also run around the world, get along as its almost allways close, fast racing.

The cars are road legal in the UK through the SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) system that allows small volume cars to be road registered without the requirement for extensive (and expensive) crash testing; the requirements are still quite strict and SVA testing is notoriously random in its application of the regs, but its still allows the UK (and Europe) access to some wonderful cars that normally would not see the light of day.
 
Never mind the 200bhp four pot bike engined versions, Radical are about to unveil a 2.6l 350+bhp model. The engine is a V8 developed by joining two 4cyl bike engines (2x1300cc) to a common crankshaft.
 
Hey, Scaff. Thanks for telling us the reason why these Radicals are road-legal over there. I'd have to imagine what it would be like if an American group came up with a GTP-style race car, but made it "affordable." Like, let's say this American GTP can b bought for about the cost of a Corvette or a Honda S2000. What would have to be done in America to make this machine street-legal?
 
Beat the record around the nurb' with only 200HP!? Gimmie some money, I must buy this car!
 
I've seen one of these on the road.
It was a hot day, and a bright yellow car only makes it hotter.
Also, if you're interested in Radical (Radicool:)), you should also check out the near identical Westfield XTR4 and XTR2.
 
Man..North America always misses out on the great things....Like cars..:grumpy:, but I bet driving that car on the streets would be a pain in the ass.
 
Just copied and pasted this.



One afternoon a fox was walking through the forest and spotted a bunch of grapes hanging from over a lofty branch.
"Just the thing to quench my thirst," quoth he.


Taking a few steps back, the fox jumped and just missed the hanging grapes. Again the fox took a few paces back and tried to reach them but still failed.

Finally, giving up, the fox turned up his nose and said, "They're probably sour anyway," and proceeded to walk away.

It's easy to despise what you cannot have.
 
I've seen one of these on the road.
It was a hot day, and a bright yellow car only makes it hotter.
Also, if you're interested in Radical (Radicool), you should also check out the near identical Westfield XTR4 and XTR2.
Click to expand...

I saw one when we were in a rugby tournament in London. It was behind us on the motorway then changed lane and sped off.
 
The mentioning of this is when I seen "Fifth Gear" on Speed Channel once about the greatest sportscar in the world. The crew said the Porsche Boxster was the best, but said that the Radical prototypes aren't a good idea for practical day-to-day use. I think it had a certain patch or something on it so it can be road legal for a low-volume car.

About the only thing closer to a race car for the road for not too much money has to be the Vemac RD320, which looks more like a Le Mans race car if anything. But if I get a license and they were made in America, the machines would have to be at a certain spec level so that it can be street-legal in America. That would usually mean certain crashing deals, appropriate height, bumper checks, and all that good stuff.

There used to be a TV show here in America based on "Popular Hot Rodding Magazine" called... "Popular Hot Rodding Magazine TV," I guess it's called. Anyhow, the show featured the Ultima GTR, and it's about as street legal and racy as anything. Race cars for the road. But back to Radical, I think having this prototype you can take to the track and the road kind of makes me think about the old days of GT racing (not that I know it first hand. I mean, I was born in 1983 for God's sakes!). You know, take a car to th track, race it hard, drive it home, do it all over again. But do you think something like this will catch on in America, especially something as outlandish as the Radical race/street cars?
 
You know that new Radical coming out soon? There are two MP3s on the site I provided, one for the engine startup, and the other for the engine running. I was smiling. If you ever get a chance, listen to those bad boys.

Radical is pretty popular in the open-top sportscar classes in the SCCA. In fact, I remember seeing some during Valvoline Runoff coverage (shouldn't be too far away now on Speed Channel). I'd say Radical is... Radi-cool.
 
wana b drifter
that car might be fast, but damn :crazy: that thing looked like a beast to control! He was sawen back and forth on the wheel in every curve.
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If you are on about the Nurburgring video, thats what happens when you push that close to the limits on the 'ring. It mad and the driver only had one shot at it as well, they only had time for one hot lap, 7mins 19secs what a time.

BTW for those interested the driver of the Radical is Phil Bennett (touring car and sports car driver),, who also did all of the track driving on the GT4 Prologue 'Making of a driver' video that was voiced by Vicki Butler-Henderson, look out for his name in the credits, along with Colin Goodwin, the Autocar writer.
 
Yes these cars are awesome I have actually been for a passenger ride in one of these around Brands Hatch circuit here in the U.K. :D :D :D :D :D

We were overtaking everything on the track like it was standing still including a 911GT3RS :sly: when we returned to the pits the driver said to me''hard to believe its on road tyres'' :ill:. In the UK we have a law called S.V.A. (single vehicle approval) where a vehicle is checked for some basic legalities before being granted a licence, mostly used for importing Japanese cars etc... But its also used for licencing things like Radicals, someone once made a sofa with wheels and engine all totally legal. If I had that money for a track day car tho I personaly would buy a old F3 or even F1 car. But you couldnt drive to the shops in one of those, I'm just imagining the looks you would get in the radical :D
 
I saw a show including this beast of a road vehicle, and was astounded to hear the words "road legal" announced in the show. I almost wet my pants, until I went a searching for the car company and found that it's street legal.... in the UK. Unfortunately, the US. doesn't allow this beauty to be street legal... thanks a lot government. :rolleyes:
 
i think it would be radical if cars had seven wheels. you could have like one in front for steering, and others for stability and turning. or you could have 1 at the back or you could even do like a hexagonal shape. rad
 
liquidyellow
Yes these cars are awesome I have actually been for a passenger ride in one of these around Brands Hatch circuit here in the U.K. :D :D :D :D :D

We were overtaking everything on the track like it was standing still including a 911GT3RS :sly: when we returned to the pits the driver said to me''hard to believe its on road tyres'' :ill:. In the UK we have a law called S.V.A. (single vehicle approval) where a vehicle is checked for some basic legalities before being granted a licence, mostly used for importing Japanese cars etc... But its also used for licencing things like Radicals, someone once made a sofa with wheels and engine all totally legal. If I had that money for a track day car tho I personaly would buy a old F3 or even F1 car. But you couldnt drive to the shops in one of those, I'm just imagining the looks you would get in the radical :D
Click to expand...

The SVA is a little more that basic legalities, in fact in can be a complete bugger to get cars through SVA tests. Mainly due to the fact that the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licencing Authority) gives each SVA centre autonomy over how they interprate the SVA regs. Having had to put both imported (from anywere outside the UK) and 'kit cars' through SVA tests I can say that its a bit of a pain at time.

Still its all worth it in the long run to allow cars like Radical, Westfield, Caterham, etc as road legal vehicles.

Buying an old F3 (or any open wheel car) can seem like a good idea for track days; however it soon becomes apparent that they can be a problem at a number of tracks. The first issue is with drive by noise limits, while a lot of the newer F3 cars will pass, the older ones will not. However more importantly you have to take into consideration that the majority of trackdays will not allow open and closed wheel cars on the same session. This limits the number of events that you would be able to do. Also remember that you would have to trailer the damn thing everywere.

If you every have the time and money and want to get into openwheel cars, try the various club based Formula Ford events that happen around the country.


Liquid, glad you loved your spin in a Radical, my passenger laps were at Castle Coombe. Race ready car and racing slicks, very very fast.
 
Have done some open wheel racing in the past so to me nothing compares to that :) , yeh Scaff I did about 10 laps around Castle Combe in my lowly new mini a month ago brilliant track pretty fast it must have been awesome in a radical with slicks :crazy: .
 
I played Castle Coombe as an add-on track for PC game "Sports Car GT." I thought this was some discontinued circuit, but obviously not discontinued if someone just raced it. It is a pretty nice course which better suits classic cars and maybe some club and amateur racing.

Here in America, when Speed Channel starts showing Valvoline Runoffs coverage, try to look for some Radicals. I know I've seen them before in racing coverage. This will be my fourth year of watching the coverage.
 
JohnBM01
I played Castle Coombe as an add-on track for PC game "Sports Car GT." I thought this was some discontinued circuit, but obviously not discontinued if someone just raced it. It is a pretty nice course which better suits classic cars and maybe some club and amateur racing.

QUOTE]

Its one of my local circuits (I live within an hours drive of Castle Coombe, Thruxton and Silverstone) and its a fantastic national level circuit. Still very active with a good number of race events on the calender each year, track days, racing school, etc.

Its undergone a number of changes in the last few years, but remains a very fast track; Avon rise leading into Quarry corner being a favorite (good place to watch from) corner.

http://www.castlecombecircuit.co.uk/

Track map can be found here (excellent site this one)

http://www.racingcircuits.net/UnitedKingdom/index.html
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Radical is an awesome car. Like John said they race them here in the us in scca DSR class. They have been since 2000!!

I race a Formula SCCA car (open wheel) in the scca and they run in the same group as me. Obviously not the same class but the same group. Not as fast as my open wheel car but but damn close.

The new engine is going to make the car a monster. :dopey:

BTW the radical holds the production car lap record at Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit!
 

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