Circuit Driver Magazine -"Radical Ideas"

It's all about timing and the launch of the Radical 1100 Clubsport back in 1997 was a wonderful example of the right product arriving at just the right time.

Sportscar racing at club level was in the doldrums. Sports 2000 was just about dead and… well that was about it really. Sure there was no shortage of tin tops to race, Caterhams and single seaters no problem, but proper sports cars with wings and things, no chance.

Of course the interpretation of the above scenario could easily have led to the conclusion that there was no actual demand for a club level sportscar series. Good job Mick Hyde and Phil Abbott weren't thinking along those lines. The dynamic founders of Radical Motorsport could see a gap staring them in the face and set about filling it. The result some seven years later (yes time really does fly) is near market domination with packed grids, a healthy export trade and new and innovative designs on the way.

Not that it was ever a dead cert mind you. That gap in the market needed the right car at the right price with the looks and the performance to match, plus a series ready to go and a support package to prop it up for the inevitable stumbling start. Crucial, though, is a car that pushes all the right buttons and Radical's Clubsport certainly did all that.

Bike power
While bike power wasn't new it had, up until then, been the preserve of the speed scene and the odd race special. What Radical did was take the concept and turn it mainstream. They sorted out the potential installation problems; got the sequential shift working properly and installed the drive train into a lightweight chassis clothed with bodywork that looked the business. And on top of that it was a fantastic drive. User friendly in the extreme it allowed you to get on with the job of actually driving rather than wrestling with the car. Oh, and the novelty of sequentially shifting up the 'box as the buzzy Kawasaki engine kissed 11,000rpm. It wasn't just Radical it was a revolution.

Fast-forward seven years via the Prosport, the SR3 and SR3 Turbo and Radical have a replacement for the original Clubsport in the shape of the SR4. Launched at the Autosport show, it moves the concept along another stage and has created a new race series that is already filling up fast. Significant advances over the Clubsport are the two-seater capacity and, using experience learnt from the SR3, true road going potential. The engine is Kawasaki's excellent ZZR 1200 unit.

Styling cues come from the current Le Mans prototype generation with hints of Audi and Bentley, albeit in miniature. Notable is the waisted treatment at the rear and the side mounted radiators fed by front mounted scoops and pronounced ducting. Under the swoopy bodywork it is a conventional spaceframe with neat drilled box sections around the transverse mounted engine a hefty looking roll bar. Suspension is simple outboard, rather than in vogue pushrod operated inboard, and derived from the SR3 using a similar rising rate anti roll set up.

Drive is via a chain to a rather neat circular Quaife diff, which houses both a reverse gear and a limited slip diff. A carbon undertray smoothes out the airflow under the car. And, of course everywhere you look you encounter the sort of detail and finishing touches demanded by the ever-fastidious Mick Hyde and partner Phil Abbott. Even the exhaust is a polished aluminium work of art styled on the racecars found on a Ducati 999.

Bullfighting
New for the 2004 season is the arrival of Matador tyres as series supplier. Tyre snobs among you may be aghast at such a budget brand being fitted to a racer, but the truth of the matter is that developing a slick tyre for racing is rather easier than creating a multi-purpose road tyre and the Matador has, according to Mick, impressed with grip and durability. Oh, and of course price.
Anyway, that's enough poking around the thing. What we're really here to do is drive it. 'Here' by the way is the Bedford Autodrome and we've got access to the SR4 all day and a 2.7 mile circuit, which is really about as good as things get in this job.

Sliding into the moulded seat and tightening the wide belts and things are immediately comfortable in the SR4. The footwell has been widened to provide more space and the sequential lever is exactly where you want it. Although we've said it a million times it's crucial to be comfortable in a car and to be properly attached to it. Only then can you concentrate on the driving. If you're moving around in the seat then you won't be able to decipher what the chassis is doing or where the grip levels are.

The sequential clonks into first and with a bit of clutch slippage the SR4 trundles out of the paddock and onto the track. As ever, the sheer immediacy hits you straight away. These things make a Caterham feel vague. A couple of moderate laps to warm everything up and time to get into some sort of rhythm. The Radical feeds back a constant stream of data that you download through every contact patch and it takes a while to use it all at once. Braking, turn-in and grip dominate but at levels that are at first difficult to take in. Certainly you could be a track day hero in the SR4 without actually trying too hard such is its pace.

However, that would be missing the point somewhat. As ever, a bit of a break to have a think about things and then back out on track. Familiarity builds confidence and things start to come together. In order to really extract the best out of the Radical you have to first push beyond your own experience of what a car can do. Start braking later and harder, carry more speed into the faster corners and get on the power earlier while all the time leaning on the grip and aero levels. Only then can you really appreciate how dizzyingly fast and truly capable the SR4 is.

It takes a while to build up to this level and when you're there it takes some serious commitment to stay there, too. Physically it becomes more and more demanding and concentration levels are somewhat beyond what you're normally used to. But the car works for and with you. Gear changing is subliminal leaving you to focus on the task of driving. Speed and ratios are lost without unsettling the balance and rather than just feeling as if it's painted to the track, the SR4 moves and reacts to steering and throttle inputs and surface changes, always letting you know just how much grip you're using and just how much is left. It's chatty I suppose you could say.

Due to some ongoing track work delayed by the February snow most of the West Circuit, which completes the Grand Tourismo circuit, is out of action, which unfortunately puts the two quickest corners at Bedford out of bounds. It's a shame but at the same time almost something of a relief. And this being Bedford we're running with Radical's biggest track day friendly silencer, which is robbing the 1200cc Kwaka engine of around 15 of its 190bhp. It's robbing the engine of some bottom end get-up-and-go too as it struggles out of some of the slower corners.

Given that the dustbin silencer is barely audible, Mick decides to put the Ducati-inspired race silencer on. Blimey! No, it's not particularly noisy; it's just a whole lot quicker. Heading out for a final session and I find myself tucked up behind one of the first customer spec JP1s. Predictably, there is honour at stake here. I'm a Radical driver today and up for some mischief. With restored bottom end grunt the SR4 is now carrying more speed everywhere and doggedly snaps at the tail of the bigger JP1. It's always easier to chase, mind, and the JP1 pilot spends too much time checking his mirrors and starts to lock up and run wide and the SR4 scrambles past.

Back in the paddock and Mick is doing a little dance. It's all a bit childish really but good competitive fun.

Another few laps to explore the expanded power band and generally revel in the Radical experience. Again, it's the sheer pace of the thing that is both intoxicating and exhausting in equal measure.

Best yet?
Is this the best Radical yet? Could well be I reckon. It's certainly the most focused and the most fun. Its power-to-weight ratio puts it close to the SR3 for pace but it's possibly even quicker thanks to its diminutive size. And there's an even quicker version on the horizon. Mick is going to drop the 1500cc Hayabusa into a road legal version, which should make for the ultimate track day weapon, bar of course the Turbo SR3 and the forthcoming SR3 V8… Well they don't call them Radical for nothing I guess!