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Can You Beat the Radical?

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, put your hands together and welcome the Nordschleife lap record holder, the Radical SR3 Turbo.

Do you think your track day car is impressive around the twists and turns of the world's race circuits? Then maybe this is the feature for you. You see, as you may have read throughout our very first issue (the one in your hands), we've tested the majority of our feature cars at Bruntingthorpe Proving Grounds. It features a massive two-mile straight for high speed runs and even a test track, which we've modified into our own and we thought it would be a great idea to see what the best lap time would be.

But getting the right car for the job was tricky, wasn't it? No, that's a lie because the car everybody has got to beat is the Radical SR3 Turbo... or 'Pure Evil' as we like to call it. It set a heart-stopping time of seven minutes 19 seconds around the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife, with Phil Bennet behind the wheel, and Radical's fruit cake (sorry, test driver) Michael Vergers still feels there's a six-minute run in the car. We can't imagine what that must feel like but we can get a better idea of why. So with the Race Technology timing gear in one hand, we set off to Bruntingthorpe in search of our lap record.

The Radical SR3 Turbo
There's no doubt about it; the Radical story is coated in glory. It was in 1997 that there was the first Radical race, a (Kawasaki) 1100 Clubsport which then went on to the Prosport. Featuring a better aero package and a bigger 1300 Suzuki Hayabusa power unit, it was fantastic in every department. It still is today but it does have trouble from another sports car... the Radical SR3.

Not content with having one of the best racecars on the circuit, Mick Hyde and Phil Abbott set out to create an even better racer... but for the road. How do you improve on the Prosport though? It was simple, make the footprint of the car bigger, and they did with the resulting car, the SR3 Tracksport (SR3-LM) and Supersport. The Supersport covered the race market well, with the Tracksport setting the track day market on fire.

Both featured 1500 Suzuki Hayabusa engines (230bhp for the Tracksport and 252bhp for Supersport) and both were hugely successful. The SR3-LM lapped Top Gear's test circuit in the hands of Perry McCarthy in one minute 15 seconds, some eight seconds faster than its nearest rival (a Pagani Zonda) and, at its first attempt, narrowly missed out on being the fastest production car around the Nordschleife. It wasn't bad, but Radical doesn't take too kindly to losing.

Instead it built the SR3 Turbo, squashed the record at the 'Ring and proudly produced 25 limited edition black and gold replicas for the public to buy for the road (all now sold). It caused controversy and some argued, "It's just a race car with number plates?" It ultimately was, but Radical had the balls to mass-produce the things and it wasn't a one-off attempt, it did the business, which rocked the whole of Germany.

It wasn't really surprising though when you consider the power-to-weight ratio of the SR3 Turbo is a neck-breaking 600bhp per ton. I thought the power-to-weight ratio for the SCV8 Supercar was impressive (and it really is). It's this shock value which makes the SR3 Turbo special: 320bhp from the Powertec turbocharged 1500 Hayabusa engine, all steel button end and MBE engine management will certainly raise more than a few hairy eyebrows on the technical buffs.

It's gone through some fairly important technical improvements since its run at the 'Ring, changes that will make it run even quicker next time Radical is passing the Nordschleife. One obvious improvement, if you've seen pictures of the old engine setup, is the new position of the turbo. The best place it could be is right behind the driver and passenger compartment, where the exhaust manifold drops down from the Suzuki power unit, but with the turbo attached it had problems with cracking manifold.

So it was repositioned in such a way that the four-branch manifold was split into two sections, much like the original SR3 exhaust system, wrapped around the engine pointing out the back of the chassis and then had the roller-bearing Garrett turbo fitted. The original exhaust system was also improved upon by coating it in a ceramic thermal barrier to not only keep the engine cover cooler but to also cool the intake charge, great for increasing horsepower.

Talking of keeping things cool, the Radical also had the turbo covered while the air-charge temperatures were kept to the minimum thanks to the Powertec bods at Radical running a fairly large intercooler system. It takes up all the room in the left-hand side-pod and again helps keep the power figure spiking. But with all this power it had to be fuelled, and fuelled well. The MBE engine management sees to that as it pumps fuel through low impedance injectors at a remarkable rate making sure its 160mph top speed doesn't run out of fuel once the throttle is released.

Mixing high speed with fantastic aerodynamics certainly makes for a great car to tackle any attempt at the 'Ring and the SR3 Turbo logged more than just a lap record run. Using Pi Software Analysis, the data recorded from the SR3 Turbo's record lap included 50mph to 100 in four seconds, 70mph to 150 in 12, 2.10 lateral G at 122mph through the Schwedenkreuz corner, 160mph taken through the Schwedenkreuz corner, 147mph into Klostertal One corner, 140mph before braking into Schwalben Schwanz and braking forces of over 1.7G into Bergwerg (thanks to the massive AP four-pot calipers and 300-millimetre discs all round).

Impressive, isn't it? We certainly thought so and this is the main reason why the Radical has set the benchmark for all-comers to beat. We'll even go as far to say that even an SR3 might be too much for some of you. If this sounds like 'fighting talk' to a few of you or, 'I say old boy, I do believe they've thrown down the gauntlet', then you're right. But whatever you prefer, let's keep the fighting clean... well, until next month anyway.

SPECIFICATION - RADICAL SR3 TURBO

ENGINE
Power-unit: 1500cc, four-cylinder, 16-valve, Garrett turbo, custom plenum, MBE engine management, ceramic coated exhaust system

Power: 320bhp @ 6750rpm
Torque: 215lb ft @ 6750rpm
Transmission: Rear-wheel drive, six-speed sequential Quaife transfer 'box

CHASSIS
Tubular spaceframe chassis with integral roll-cage
Weight: 500 kilos

BRAKES
Front & Rear: AP Racing four-pot calipers, 300mm discs

SUSPENSION
Front & Rear: Double wishbones, Intrax coilovers

WHEELS
Front: 8.5x15-inch Image three-piece, centre locking
Rear: 9.5x16-inch Image Three piece, centre locking

TYRES
Front: Dunlop Formula R
Rear: Dunlop Formula R

AERODYNAMICS
Front splitter: Controlled
Rear wing: Controlled, adjustable

HOW MUCH? Price: £41,000