Amazing cars, staggeringly capable. Might be frustrating at many UK trackdays though as unless the day is pretty empty then you are gonna find it hard to really extend the car for any long period as you are going to keep catching people on bends and under braking all the time and having your rhythm and flow interupted.

have you thought about something like an Atom, Caterham superlight, Lotus 211 or similar. Still very different kind of trackcar to a GT2, but can be fun road cars on a sunny sunday morning blast etc as well so you can get more use out of your little toy.

I've never run a Radical, so best off asking an owner but I know what its like to have a very fast but frustrating and sometimes unreliable track car! Have had friends who have run bike engine ones... they were not the most reliable of cars, niggles rather than anything big... but when on song... the downforce and cornering speeds were so so thrilling and addictive!

They are an unbelievable track tool and are the next step up the ladder from the caterhams and atoms etc as when you add downforce into the mix then the braking and cornering are on another level.The problem with the busa engines is that it has no more than about thirty hours before they need a refresh which is not too bad a job to have the engine out and send it off to be rebuilt at a cost of about £1200 not including taking the engine out and putting it back unless you can do it yourself.The thirty hours also includes warm up time so its even less in real terms.If the 1500 cc motors go bang it gets really expensive to fix or most times throw it away.

I have been cosidering one for track for a long while now but owning a 1585cc hayabusa caterham then taking the engine out of that every year for a refresh is enough for me.I would go for the SR3 SL,road registered and with the turbocharged ford duratec engine in as it will run for ages with just a regular oil change as it is very under stressed in comparison to the busa engine.The prices are more now as they have not been produced for long but in 12 months time the prices should drop a fair bit.
Andy

Hi

I run a little Global Gt Light for trackdays and its great....

I did 8 trackdays in it last year and it hasnt touched the slicks/or brakes, it runs a stock carbed R1 and as other posters have said it can be a little frustrating as you catch everyone on the brakes and round the corners but the faster cars leave you down the straights but ultimately you can lap quicker than any of them!!!

I think if you are going to run a topline Radical you will need to be patient on trackdays which will be a little frustrating, as mentioned i would look at the cheaper less powered Rads as they will be more fun for less money. I also think 90% of drivers will never get anymore than 70% out of a Radical even a lower powered one.

There is nothing like a bike powered car on a track especially with wings/slicks and mega low weight (under 400kg) AWESOME LOVE IT, no driving aids just you and the car :-)

I don't understand the point in owning a Radical just for trackdays. Being massively faster than everyone else yet being held up in the corners must be an exercise in frustration. In fact putting a clean, fast lap in without encountering any traffic must be a rare occurrence. Unlike most tin tops you can't find some space and then lap on your own with only minimal interference from other vehicles. Finally, if you buy a relatively expensive track only car that must be trailered everywhere, yet don't race it, then that's really a cop-out.

What utter rubbish.

Our SR3 is for track days only. We aren't driving gods and don't feel we have anything to prove on track.

There are many threads which touch on fast cars like Radicals on track days. What is being asked is how practical running one is. To be honest we are continually fiddling with ours and fettling it during the day and we have been rather plagued with some frustrating issues over the last couple of years. Ours is an early car and some bits were just wearing out and didn't get fixed correctly when they first showed themselves.

To put that in context we have spent almost nothing on tyres and consumables. I should also say that ours in coming out of the winter rebuild with rebuilt engine, box, new loom, fixed the ETB dash, changed rose joints etc etc at a cost of £12k.

Makes it very expensive per trackday in comparison to running a lot of other things, but it's bloody marvellous!

All I would say is do not underestimate the time required between outings. We are lucky and have great facilities to keep it and look after it.

Like I said above, there are many threads about such issues. To be fair though, was it only Radicals that were unnerving you?

That is of course one of the reasons road car only track days have been introduced.

It's not really what cars are on circuit together, it's how those cars are being driven.

A Radical is a wonderful thing, but is not the only car to give a vastly different experience to a GT2, but I would suggest it is one of the more fiddly.

Even with my limited ability the 'relatively expensive' car I use now makes me one of the faster cars, I dont find it partucularly frustrating I just drive accordingly and find gaps. Your post was not helpful and I really wonder why you bothered to put finger to keyboard..

It's clear you are no stranger to quick cars, and you are looking for something a little more, um...visceral.

Some of the Caterhams are silly quick it's true but we are staggered at the speed of Atoms time and again. We did consider binning the SR3 and going the Atom route ourselves. From chat's I have had with owners they seem pretty easy to run too.

If you find yourself at a trackday with 3 old chaps living the Radical dream, come and say hi and come out for a few laps.

Hi all

If you are curious why not get in touch and organise a trial day. the SR3 RS has been in build for over 10 years and is an extremely versatile and robust trackday and race toy.

Happy to field all enquiries and consider part-exchanges.

Look forward to hearing from you

Jamie
(contact details online)

Agreed, but I`m sure once they realised the Peugeot was still behind them after a few corners, they simply let you past..;)

Oh hang on, thats not what you meant is it...