Which is best

Author
Discussion

chris scopes

Original Poster:

2 posts

245 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
I'm currently a Westfield owner looking to 'upgrade' to a radical for trackdays / hillclimbes etc.
Can anybody tell me the which are which in terms of pecking order, and where is the best place to look for second hand ones.

Are they as good as everybody makes out. Will it be better than my Cossy Turbo'd Westy on the track ????

Cheers

Chris

RichardD

3,560 posts

246 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
chris scopes said:
I'm currently a Westfield owner looking to 'upgrade' to a radical for trackdays / hillclimbes etc.
Can anybody tell me the which are which in terms of pecking order, and where is the best place to look for second hand ones.

Are they as good as everybody makes out. Will it be better than my Cossy Turbo'd Westy on the track ????

Cheers

Chris


From what I have read they are at the top of the track day pile. The downforce gives them the edge over "normal" cars. In a recent Evo feature the difference in a Silverstone laptime between a radical and a 911 GT3 was rather large.

If you have one set up for the road that would compromise performance due to ground clearance and tyres. In the Autocar handling day it didn't do too well since it was a road spec.

The website is very good:

www.radicalmotorsport.com/frames.htm

Chris Sideways

421 posts

253 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
Hi Chris i think you are the guy i spoke to on the phone a few weeks ago??I've done just what you are talking about and gone from a Cosworth Westy to a Radical(ClubSport)To keep it short i would NEVER go back to a Caterfield type car again the Radical is in a differant class soooooooooooooooooooo much faster and safer also if you look round cheaper to,you can get a real good car from around 9k to 16k,running cost's on the car are quite low as tire's&brake's last ages how ever the engine can be very expensive mine has been a nightmare this year but i have a friend with the same car as me who just sends it back at the end of the year for a refresh which cost around 1.500
What i was told when buying one was to budget for a engine and gearbox rebuild in it's first year (around the 2k mark) so if you can try and find one with a fresh engine and gearbox they are about.Last thing if you are only doing track days the ClubSport is more then fast enough the extra you spend on a Prosport-SR3 would be wasted on the slower traffic on track.
Wasn't that short in the end was it
Chris.

>> Edited by Chris Sideways on Thursday 4th December 18:58

TonyF

2,300 posts

277 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
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Chris, my clubsport is for sale now if you are interested !

Tony.

chris scopes

Original Poster:

2 posts

245 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
Tony

Have you got any details / pics.

Cheers


Chris

TonyF

2,300 posts

277 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
Yes, I will e-mail them through your profile.

Tony.

dannylt

1,906 posts

285 months

Thursday 4th December 2003
quotequote all
RichardD said:
If you have one set up for the road that would compromise performance due to ground clearance and tyres. In the Autocar handling day it didn't do too well since it was a road spec.
If I remember, that car had Bridgestone SO3 tyres on - no wonder it got pounded by the Elise 135 on stickies. There is no issue with putting slicks on a "road going" Radical - there are compromise geometry settings on the SR3 which accomodate both. I've got the race splitters on my SVA car, it just means you can't do speed bumps.

It's not just the aero advantage - the chassis generates more mechanical grip than a Caterfield, and it's got to be much safer if you stack it!