Evo Magazine - "Fast Feud"

It's the oldest argument in the motoring world. Car or bike - which is quickest?
There's only one way to settle this, as Jethro Bovingdon reports.

It's the ultimate late-night pub conversation: which is faster, car or bike? And in best pub banter tradition, each camp vehemently extols the virtues of either two wheels or four with a blind faith that only a few too many Stellas can nurture.

As a rule here at evo we only resort to two wheels when a photographer absolutely demands it, and only then with the help of a tight corner and a suitable hot hatch. But when Crescent Suzuki contacted us about its new British Superbike replica, based around the fearsome Suzuki GSX-R1000, and said it had already booked Silverstone National circuit and Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground to prove beyond question that it was more than a match for any car, we simply had to take the bait.

The GSX-R1000 is the ultimate roadgoing production superbike, combining the massive straight-line speed of the legendary Hayabusa with the agility of a featherweight 600. Superbike magazine will be bringing along a standard GSX-R as a benchmark, but it's the Crescent bike that will be the main threat.

Crescent's experience in the British Superbike Championship has helped it develop an even sharper, more devastating road bike for those riders who feel that what the Suzuki needs is a bit more of an edge. The modifications include race-spec Ohlins suspension, heavily uprated brakes and - believe it or not - even more power thanks to a blueprinted engine and full exhaust system. The result costs an eye-watering £23,023 (a standard GSX-R1000 is £8549) and represents the pinnacle of contemporary road-bike technology.

Crescent's Rizla-liveried GSX-R is an awesome proposition but with four wide contact patches and huge braking capabilities, not to mention ever-increasing power outputs, the modern performance car has a few aces up its sleeve. Despite safety and emissions legislation - and flying in the face of a tidal wave of in-car technology designed to pamper and relax us - the hardcore, hard-riding, hard-charging, extreme road and trackday car is flourishing.

Major manufacturers like BMW and Porsche have recognised the trend and are building harder-edged cars to satisfy demand, while smaller makers such as Radical are providing a fix for drivers who are prepared to sacrifice everything for raw thrills and on-track ability.

It's pretty likely that the bike is going to make some beating in the straight-line shoot-out at Bruntingthorpe, but the demanding curves of Silverstone will be an entirely different challenge. If all goes to plan, by the end of it all we'll be able to tell you conclusively whether four wheels really are better than two… and all without a drop of beer passing our lips.

The Contenders
Once we'd accepted the challenge laid down by Crescent Suzuki and Superbike magazine, it was time to start formulating our attack. The temptation was simply to find a Caterham R500 and a Radical SR3 Turbo, stand back and watch the fireworks. But although we'd love to see one of our cars teach the bikers a lesson we decided it would be more revealing to bring along the best extreme road cars from BMW, Porsche and Lamborghini. Don't worry, though, it wasn't at the expense of a proper lightweight trackday special. Radical rocked-up in determined mood with an SR3 Tracksport - and suddenly the bikers weren't looking quite so confident…

RADICAL SR3 TRACKSPORT

Engine	In-line 4 Cyl 1500cc
Max Power	252bhp @ 9500rpm
Max Torque	158lb ft @ 7000rpm
Power to Weight	449bhp per ton
Price	£32,000

The assembled bikers and representatives of Crescent Suzuki had looked pretty smug until the Radical rolled out of its trailer and into the pit garage. The sudden change in mood and the anxious glances are a mark of the respect that Radical has earned in a remarkably short space of time. We've never tested a road-legal car that can touch a Radical's incredible ability around a circuit. With 252bhp and a kerb weight of only 490kg, the SR3 is crazily fast in a straight line and brakes and corners like nothing else. If any car can conquer the wildly powerful Suzuki superbike, then surely this is it.

The Driver
Phil Bennett recently visited the fearsome Nürburgring with Radical and set a new production car lap record of 7min 19 sec in the terrifying new SR3 Turbo. It was his first and only flying lap. With more time, he is confident that the Radical could dip below 7 minutes. That should tell you all you need to know about Bennett. Fearless, hugely talented and versatile, he was the natural choice when we needed fast and consistent lap times in four very different road cars.

The Riders
Crescent is wheeling-out the big guns to harness its specially prepared GSX-R's potential. Ex-World Superbike rider Aaron Slight is its nominated madman for the Bruntingthorpe performance test, and former GP rider Niall MacKenzie will be setting the lap times at Silverstone. Both are phenomenal riders with success at the very highest levels of bike racing and both are refreshingly enthusiastic and friendly. One thing's for sure, if these boys can't produce the goods for Crescent then nobody can.

The Circuit
The motorcycle version of the Silverstone National circuit is 90 per cent of the usual car circuit but cuts short before Luffield into a tighter, almost hairpin, right. You then have a very short straight before the controversial left/right chicane.

Controversial because it's so tight that you actually turn back on yourself before firing out just before the traditional Woodcote corner and the start/finish line.

Given the nature of our challenge, this configuration is quite bike-friendly in that it reinforces their accelerative advantage. If you look at the data trace you'll see just how savage the acceleration is on a GSDX-R - I honestly can't believe a F1 car is much faster. The cars ought to generate more corner grip. However, you'll see that Copse is the only corner that allows the cars a significant time gain. Things would be very different on the GP circuit…. Phil Bennett

ROUND ONE
Bruntingthorpe Proving Ground

There's a sense of the inevitable as I arrive at Bruntingthorpe with our Racelogic VBOX freshly charged and ready to record some simple straight-line figures. The Radical, Porsche, BMW and Lamborghini are all very quick cars in their own right, but with two miles of bone-dry unrestricted runway to play in, the Crescent Suzuki is looking invincible. Aaron Slight is already in his racesuit and raring to go as I park up rather sheepishly.

Superbike magazine's features editor, Jonathan Pearson, has brought along a standard GSX-R100 to provide a benchmark. I casually ask Pearson how quickly he expects the bikes to reach 100mph. His reply is devastating. 'Sub-six seconds to 100mph, and then they should run into their limiters half-way down the straight.' Apparently a limit of 186mph has been introduced for all motorcycles to halt the escalating top speed war that was started by the Suzuki Hayabusa - the original 200mph superbike. Quite who decided that 186mph was a safe maximum I'm not sure, but even with the faintly absurd limiter in place it's obvious that the cars simply won't be able to live with the superbikes at Bruntingthorpe.

It's a spooky place. The runway's very wide and disguises speed so effectively that 150mph feels like 70mhp, and it's slightly uphill so you can't see to the far end until you crest the slight rise about a third of the way along. It's bumpy, too, and there's always plenty of peripheral activity. All of which makes it a bit disconcerting when you're lined up in a brand new Porsche GT3 and ready to see just how fast it'll go before you run out of road. Worse still, as you approach the braking zone you're staring at what looks like a supermarket car park on a Saturday afternoon (Bruntingthorpe's also used for car storage).

With 4500rpm on the dial I drop the clutch, the GT3 squats, there's a flare of wheelspin and we're away. Sixty is gone almost as soon as I snatch second, with 100mph dispatched soon after; as I approach the rise the GPS digital speedo is reading over 140mph and still flicking furiously on its way to 150mph. I hook fifth and the acceleration dips a little; the slog to the far side of 160mph begins. Even a car as outrageously accelerative as the GT3 starts to let up at these speeds and now it's simply a matter of how big a risk I'm prepared to take under braking. Above 165mph I've got time to watch the digits slowly click upwards, but I know that the bikes will already be hassling their limiters at this point.

At 170mph I back off and call on the huge power of Porsche's ceramic brakes to scrub off speed for the right-hander at the end of the straight. They've got plenty in reserve but the GT3 isn't going any faster today. Back at the start point the computer reveals the GT3 has hit sixty in 4.2sec and blitzed 100mph in a shade over nine: impressive stuff, certainly, but not enough to trouble the pair of GSX-R1000s.

The CSL can't get near the bikes either, despite being in much ruder health than the first press car we figured and creating some genuine clear air between it and the standard M3s we've tested in the past. Even the mighty Lambo only manages 178mph at the end of the straight. With another mile of runway the GT3 would hit its top speed of 191mph and the Murciélago would almost certainly top 200mph, but today we haven't got another mile so it's up to the Radical to salvage a bit of honour for us car enthusiasts.

Ironically, the Radical, our final chance for salvation, is powered by a motorbike engine - a bored-out 1500cc Hayabusa unit with over 250bhp - and it's notoriously difficult to get off the line cleanly. Radical's development driver, Michael Vergers, is on hand to wring the maximum from it and nails a couple of perfect launches. There's just a sniff of wheelspin before the SR3 hooks up and then flings itself towards the shimmering horizon, all the time the bumpy surface playing havoc with its stiff suspension set-up. Just as it disappears out of sight the shrieking engine begins to stammer. At 142mph the Radical is finished but along the way it's recorded a 0-60mph time of 3.4sec and hit 100mph in 7.8sec. We're all pretty chuffed.

The feeling doesn't last long. Pearson lines up on the runway perched on the standard GSX-R1000. He's a seasoned performance tester and has got launching a powerful superbike down to a fine art, slipping the clutch just enough to avoid any wheelspin and gently dabbing the rear brake to keep the bikes front wheel close to the tarmac. It's an awesome and frightening sight, almost like he's being pulled along by the vicious recoil of a bungee cord. The Radical had looked deeply impressive, but this is a whole new level of madness. The still air faintly dances to the sound of the four-cylinder engine as it zips up to 11,000rpm and we count up the gears. Into sixth and the engine's demonic acceleration sound undiminished; just a few seconds later the speed limiter cuts in.

Next up it's Aaron Slight on the Crescent-modified bike. It's trickier to launch, but after a couple of attempts Slight has it mastered. Again, there's no wheelspin but the visuals still don't seem to make any sense; your eyes can barely keep up with the action. As Slight hops off with a wry smile, the datalogger reveals the brutality of a modern superbike in simple black and white figures. This full road-legal bike has just recorded 0-60mph in 2.9sec, 100mph in 5.4sec, 150mph in 10.6sec and 180mph in 19.9sec. Even a McLaren F1 needs 20.3sec to get to 180mph. Round 1 to the superbike, then? Just a bit…

PERFORMANCE - Straight line, standing start

Read the figures and weep… The Crescent Suzuki lays waste
to all the cars; check out its eye-popping 0-150mph time

ROUND TWO
Silverstone National Circuit for motorbikes

He's an ex-GP rider and has raced with plenty of success against the likes of Mick Doohan. He rode through the legendary 'big-bang' days when a GP bike's power came in with all the subtlety of a 1000bhp turbocharged F1 car, so the Suzuki will feel like a pussycat. MacKenzie's incredibly relaxed and affable; happy to help out with our photography requirements and genuinely interested in the cars. He's a big fan of the Crescent Suzuki but for someone who's raced at the highest level, a road bike will always just be a road bike. 'It's got the power and it's a great bike,' he says, 'but you can't replicate the grip and response of a purpose-built racer even with such a good basis as the GSX-R.'

Bennett is already out in the Porsche and, after a few laps, cruises back down the pitlane with a huge grin visible even behind his full-face helmet. It's set a benchmark time of 1min 10.9sec without a hint of brake fade and you just know it would eat up the circuit all day long with little protest. The CSL doesn't fare quite so well. It sets a competitive time of 1min 12sec (just pipped by the heavyweight Lambo) but after only a few laps the brakes haven't so much faded as completely disappeared. Meanwhile MacKenzie is scrubbing in some fresh rubber on the Crescent Suzuki and the Radical has arrived. Already it's pretty obvious that the more road-biased cars and even the rampant standard GSX-R are merely undercards to the main event - Radical vs Crescent Suzuki. The Lamborghini may be the true heavyweight, but all eyes are on the straw-weight SR3.

It doesn't disappoint. Bennett is an experienced hand in Radicals and is soon making it dance around Silverstone's uniquely demanding motorbike-spec National circuit. The noise and fury of an SR3 at maximum attack is enough to make even hardened bikers shake their heads in disbelief, and more than enough to get the Crescent boys anxiously studying stopwatches. Under braking the Radical is simply awesome and it generates enormous cornering forces. After four laps Bennett manages a best of 1min 5.6secs - enough to make the other cars look tame, and significantly quicker than Pearson has managed on the standard Suzuki. MacKenzie will have to earn his money today.

Bennett is already muttering about how he'd dearly love to have been in the Radical Turbo for his laps when the Crescent boys release their charge from its tyre-warmers and out into the pitlane. MacKenzie rifles through the gears and out onto the circuit, leaving the air thick with the sweet smell of high-octane petrol and slow-roasted tyres. Lap 1 is quick but still three seconds or so off the SR3's pace, but with each pass the times tumble and soon there's only tenths separating MacKenzie and Bennett.

The Crescent boys are signalling the differences to their rider with a pit-board and after eight of the allocated four laps, MacKenzie finally gets the 'In' board. He's been an absolute hero and the state of the decimated rear tyre is a testament to his commitment and skill. And the time? Oh… don't worry about that, it's the taking part that counts… Okay, if you want to be pedantic about it, fine.

The truth is that the £24,000 Crescent-modified and fettled superbike with a full complement of pit-crew and one of the top riders in the world perched on top of it managed to pip the not-quite-top-spec, straight-out-of-the-box Radical by two-tenths of a second.

Bike beats car. The end. Or possibly not… Radical is working feverishly on its new Turbo engine and Crescent is keen to beat it on an ever bigger stage than Silverstone. GSX-R1000 vs Radical Turbo at the Nürburgring - revenge will be sweet.

LAP TIMES

Crescent Suzuki GSX-R1000	1 min 5.4sec
Radical SR3 Tracksport	1 min 5.6sec
Suzuki GSX-R1000	1min 9.0sec
Porsche GT3	1min 10.9sec
Lamborghini Murcielago	1min 11.5sec
BMW M3 CSL	1min 12.0sec