Radical: We Make Proper Road Cars Now
The new SR3 SL will soon have type approval, so how serious is Radical about cars with numberplates?
To enter into such an endeavour is a measure of Radical's self-belief in its ability to get a 'grown-up' car company's job done; it's also a gamble that there exists a market large enough to recoup the development costs exists. In terms of reassurance that the idea wasn't complete lunacy, it must have come as some relief when Ford approached Radical with the offer of supplying its brand new and technically advanced 2.0-litre EcoBoost four-cylinder engine, complete with turbocharger, heaps of power and torque, and very low emissions.
Our tour was Radical's way of showing off that it's now a 'proper' car maker, rather than a bunch of blokes in a shed in the east. The company is split into three divisions: Radical Sports Cars; Radical Precision Engineering, which fabricates chassis and components both for the mother ship and external clients such as Mosler and the MoD; and Radical Performance Engines, which supplies engines directly to Radical Sports Cars, and also tends to the needs of customers' cars.
"So the SL has been born out of that demand and we see it as the future for the business; currently we seem to be the first company out there with a car type-approved to Euro 5 standards."
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If memory serves, the latest Radicals use the Kawasaki GTR 1400cc bike engine.
There is then Radical's own V8, 2.7 litres, which over-simplistically utilises two 'Busa top ends mated in a Vee onto one crankshaft via much cleverness by Radical (usually used in SR8s).
Big congratulations to them on leading the way with the huge achievement of Type Approval with the new SL. I hope it is enormously succesful for them all around the globe (and I'm sure it will)
I eventually gave up on the idea after chasing Radical for around 3 months, offering them money to convert a car I'd found for me and it seemed because I wasn't some rich t
t in the middle east wanting an SR8 LM and a race team they really didn't give a st...so I scrapped the idea, well done Radical.Taking a Radical and making it road legal compromises the whole point of the car (something I was happy to live with), it's totally impractical (much like the X-Bow and Atom) so they must have done their homework that they can sell these when other such cars already exist in limited numbers?
Good luck to them.
: Sadly they'd finished their runs but somebody said they'd been lapping at 1m 18 which sounds bloody fast.I heard they were there with some journos to give them a taste? Anybody from PH maybe?
Yep, as I understand it, the official press launch was indeed Cadwell on Wednesday.
Presumably the likes of PH & EVO etc were there and presumably we'll all be reading about it real soon; guess there's some sort of embargo until such and such time on such and such a day.
But as you wouldn't have signed it, got any 'sneak preview' pics?
PS Mighty strange lens used with that chassis pic: I think I recognise the culprit standing at the back, know he's a normal sized chap and that the lens used has made the chassis look way way way bigger than it actually is
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