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AN ELISE IS A FAT BASTARD in comparison. Pagani? Pavarotti more like. When it comes to performance per kilo, there's nothing that can compare with the current crop of British track day specials. So extreme are they in every sense - weight, practicality, build - that we've excluded all bar one (a Caterham) from our regular Performance Car of the Year trials. On a single criteria - driver appeal - they'd win hands down. On everything else - comfort, safety, even looks - they'd get a rather painful shoeing. So for the purposes of our Track Car of the Year we're interested in just one thing: how entertaining will they be over the sweeping, twisting, cresting turns of Cadwell Park's club circuit? We've got five cars on test, ranging from the sensible (in this company, at least) Caterham Superlight R300, the road car-ish Leading Edge 240RT, the bare-as-bones Ariel Atom and two racing-cum-track day cars, the Westfield XTR-2 and the Radical SR3 Supersport. In terms of price they're not spread too far apart. The Atom and Caterham are the cheapest on test at £23,000 (if anything with next to no bodywork, no screens, no anything could be described as cheap), although you can get base models of both for significantly less. The Westfield also starts in the low 20s, although this tweaked model will set you back £27,900. Only the Radical (specced to the gills here) and awkwardly priced Leading Edge threaten to crest 30 grand. But even at the end of the spectrum you're buying hyper-car performance for a fraction of the cost. That performance comes courtesy of an even more diverse choice of powertrains. The Atom and Caterham rely on that stock kit-car block, the 1.8-litre Rover K-series, tweaked to around 160bhp. But while it revved sweetly and without protest in the rear-engined Atom, the Superlight was lumpy and needed constant clearing. On Cadwell's tight hairpin, too high a gear was the cue for much coughing and chugging before the R300 came back on cam. By contrast, the Ariel feels ideally matched to its engine. You can get an Atom in five states of tune (111 to 190bhp) but in 160bhp guise it feels just about perfect. The engine revs hard and cleanly to 7000rpm, accessing its power without protest and with genuine finesse. It's still a K-series, which means it's more Posh Spice than Pavarotti behind your head, but there's a willingness to respond to throttle inputs which the Caterham somehow lacks. The Leading Edge turns Japanese for its power. Sold originally as the Far East-funded Tommy Kaira ZZ sports car, a consortium of Norfolk-based engineering companies has rescued the project under the Leading Edge banner. But for all intents and purposes the running gear remains the same: a normally aspirated, mid-mounted 2.0-litre Nissan good for 240bhp (there's also a 190bhp version). Weighing in at a shade over 800kg (by far the portliest car here, but then it does have real doors), the 240RT is still capable of punching clean through the five-second 0-60mph sprint. But that four-pot engine feels as if it's still in an early stage of development, running consistently at low revs and lacking the power-to-weight ratio of its rivals. It's mighty fast, just not jarringly quick. For unworldly performance, you need to look to the Westfield and Radical. Both companies have gone down the second favourite route of the kit-car builder and nicked 1300cc four-cylinder Suzuki Hayabusa engines for the back of the steel spaceframe racers. The Westfield retains the motorbike's chain drive and fuel injection system, meaning it can access low-end torque that the Radical - stroked out to 1500cc in this top-spec model and using flat slide carbs - misses out on. Not that you could ever call either car short on grunt. The Radical is good for an extraordinary 252bhp at 9500rpm (it redlines at 10,500), while the slightly smaller and less stressed Westfield still churns out 172bhp. The difference in delivery, though, is marked. The XTR-2 pierces the air with a whine so intense and painful that you simply can't do more than a handful of laps without earplugs. At 10,000rpm the induction howl is matched only by the screams of pain from within your own helmet. Try to ignore the agonies for a moment and you'll find that the Westfield's power delivery is as acute as its noise. Throttle response is lightning fast, the engine acting, not surprisingly, in the fashion of a superbike: hard, aggressive and seemingly bombproof. Amazingly, it still manages to pale into insignificance once you try the Radical. While it doesn't come fully on cam until you've passed 7000rpm, above that magical figure you are in possession of one of the world's most potent drivetrains. Instead of chain drive, the Radical opts for shafts run through a specially developed Quaife limited slip differential. The combination is just devastating. In the final third of the rev counter, with ram-air effect boosting power by a few more percent, acceleration is shattering, the gearchange lights flashing endlessly. Its speed defies description. And so does its handling. Double wishbone suspension (all the cars here bar the Caterham use a similar set-up), faultless steering, a mint sequential six-speed 'box that allows clutchless change-ups and bias-adjustable 260mm ventilated brake discs means this is the purest track car you could ever lay your hands on. Mid-corner there's so much grip and genuine downforce that only a gigantic electro-magnet could pull you off line, while under braking you're pinned against the six-point racing harness as if being towed by a fleeing whale. Only a surfeit of power over grip from the road-legal Dunlops in low-speed corners is cause for concern… or at least cause for one spin. The solution? Slicks for the track. Its nearest rival, the Westfield, can't match it simply because in every discipline it's a few percentage points behind. The cockpit and overall finish are less pristine, the steering wheel on this early model is badly offset from the seating position, the gearshift (identical to the Radical is somehow less precise and positive. Over a lap there's probably not much in it in terms of time, but the enjoyment prize goes the Radical way. The Atom is arguably more enjoyable than either the Westfield or the Caterham. Beautifully finished, well balanced and so simple to drive quickly, it's also streets ahead of the Caterham in terms of packaging. There's room in the footwell, for starters, but also less mid-corner nervousness and wonderful, wonderful brakes. Out of the five cars here, I'd take this over all bar the Radical. The Westfield, Caterham and Leading Edge are flawed diamonds. The Westfield just can't live with the Radical on anything bar the price, while the Caterham, a serious performance special and perennial favourite, is just not as enjoyable in this company. It remains, however, the most sensible of the contenders. You really can drive it across the UK to a track, and we did. The rest, while all road legal, came via trailer. The 240RT, meanwhile, is just not there yet. Its natural stance is sharp oversteer, while its brake pedal displays about as much feel as if you'd fallen asleep on your foot. A work in progress. So hats off - or helmets on - to the Radical SR3 Supersport, our Track Car of the Year. We know people will scoff at its claim to be road legal, but in terms of what it did when it counts, at the brilliant proving ground of Cadwell Park, there's nothing to touch it. Just make sure they sell you one with a trailer… |
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