Any experience with the Radical SR3??

[attila]

Any forum member has any experience with Radical cars??
I am planning to get the black and green 2011 SR3 http://www.springmountainmotorsports.../used-radicals
My question is operating cost and potential problems.
Would appreciate any comment, Thanks

[Gearhead999s]

Originally Posted by attila

Any forum member has any experience with Radical cars??
I am planning to get the black and green 2011 SR3 http://www.springmountainmotorsports.../used-radicals
My question is operating cost and potential problems.
Would appreciate any comment, Thanks

I do not claim to know a lot about Radicals except for the fact that there are a few that are out lapping.I guess they are like any other true race car that will require proper setup & maintence which in race car sense of course is never cheap.I do know that the V8 Powertech ones sound great

[attila]

The V8 engine is in the SR8. (and sound amazing) The SR3 - the one I am interested in - using a 1.5L 4cylinder engine, with dry sump lubrication. Basically a modified bike engine. I try to do all maintenance myself but worried about the transmission and gearbox on these cars. Just do not know what to expect. Engine and trans rebuild after 50-80h??
Thanks!

[Gearhead999s]

The other thing about having a sports racer is having other like cars to run with when you are out.The only place that I ever see more than one out at a time is our regional race series where they run with the Formula Libre group.Running around by yourself is not exactly condusive to improving your skills if there is nobody else to compare your improvements to.Of course lapping in one of these cars is still a pile of fun!

[attila]

My reasoning about the Radical is that I run the GT3RS now on the track exclusively. Almost no street driving at all. Mainly because of the flashiness of the P-car. So if it is only for track why to keep a $140K car, why not to get something even more dedicated but cheaper? I know the maintenance may be more expensive, but who knows. Thats why I started this thread. By the way the GT3RS is not cheap to maintain. Tires, usually two sets/year about 3K, pads for the stupid PCCB about 2k/year, rear susp modd, etc. So it adds up, not to count crakced windshield and other tear and wear items, or changing the PCCB to steal.
Unfortunately very few people has first hand experience with the Radical SR3. Will visit Spring Mountain and drive it there, but that's just about how the car drives not about true maintenance issues.

[signes]

Curious to hear if anybody chimes in. They look like a blast and seem to be relatively safe. I can't imagine it would be as expensive as what you list for annual costs for your RS.

[attila]

Originally Posted by signes

Curious to hear if anybody chimes in. They look like a blast and seem to be relatively safe. I can't imagine it would be as expensive as what you list for annual costs for your RS.

Well, the M3 was not much cheaper either on the track. Just checked my records and in 2010 I had two sets of BFG-R1 for the M3, about $2500, 4 sets of front and two sets of rear pads $2200, two flush of SRF $160, 1 set of new front disks $1100, 3 alignment on the front $210 (brake heat melted the wheel weight off, even though taped than later glued etc
The difference is that GT3RS pads and tires are more expensive. (pads last longer than in the M3!!)
The radical runs on cheaper 15-16 inch wheels, tires somewhat less, I do not know how long pads would last, but it is a light car. My main issue is with maintenance I had never needed before, like trans rebuild, or something i have never even heard before.
By the way nothing is cheaper on the track than the mazda MX-5. Went out with the GT3RS and due to the rain stopped (no street tire) my wife came by I tracked her miata. It was FUN!! big time. I was really thinking about to get rid of the GT3RS, get something more comfortable P-car and have a dedicated miata for track use. Then I would miss the speed, I am sure. But the Radical seems like a good solution if it is not riddled with unknown to me issues.

[Porschefile]

Surely the engine wouldn't need frequent rebuilds if it is essentially a bike motor swapped in. IIRC the standard motor in the original radical was a stock hayabusa motor, which is pretty reliable and cheap if you blow it up.

The trans shouldn't need to be rebuilt either unless it's a sequential. I think they make both H pattern and sequential versions, the sequentials all need rebuilds but I'd be shocked if it was sooner than 100 hours.

I don't have personal experience with the radical but I'd venture a guess that it would be cheaper to run that your RS and would be way cheaper if an incident occurred.

[MaxL]

I talked to a couple of guys with radicals at different times and both complained that the cars are too fast to have fun during most lapping days. The complaint was essentially that unless a group has free passing or has very few cars, it may be impossible to get a single uninterrupted 10/10th lap during a whole day. Not sure how big of an issue it is, but probably something to consider. But the whole idea is very appealing - fast car that's cheap enough to run and has a racer-grade safety...

[930Man]

a lot of maintenance

[Gearhead999s]

[Erhan]

Not sure how it'd compare (price, reliability, maintenance cost), but I saw the Palatov D4 at the Drive channel. They also have D1 and D2 models.

[jml]

I know couple guys in texas who have Sr3s, one used to race it in NASA. They seemed very reliable, but make no mistake, the parts and maintenance are extremely expensive. A motor freshening is over 10K.

The only downer I see with a Radical is that they are SOOOO fast on a track that a DE is no longer all that fun with the traffic. An SR3 is good for a mid 1:40 at TWS, which is blistering compared to your average fast car - mid 1:50s.

[Richbot]

Honestly once you hit that level of speed potential it might be best to get a competition license and do race weekends with the SCCA or NASA. At least then you'll get your own relatively clear track in the wings-'n-things run group with the formula cars and other sports racers. I wouldn't want to be on track with production cars in one of those things, I've been on the other side of that coin and even in a Miata they absolutely disappear in the mirrors

[attila]

Originally Posted by jml

I know couple guys in texas who have Sr3s, one used to race it in NASA. They seemed very reliable, but make no mistake, the parts and maintenance are extremely expensive. A motor freshening is over 10K.

The only downer I see with a Radical is that they are SOOOO fast on a track that a DE is no longer all that fun with the traffic. An SR3 is good for a mid 1:40 at TWS, which is blistering compared to your average fast car - mid 1:50s.

Are you sure the 10K motor "refreshening" is for the SR3 and not the SR8?? The 2.8L V8 is an expensive engine, but the 4cyl. should not be that bad.

Anyway, will try one in June and see. (at least the driving experience)

[Porschefile]

^Surely it is for the V8. The 4 cylinder is just a GSXR motor if it is the same as it used to be, which is only $3-4k for a new engine, much less to repair. You can buy the engine with the bike around it for $10k ish ha.

[Gearhead999s]

Originally Posted by Porschefile

^Surely it is for the V8. The 4 cylinder is just a GSXR motor if it is the same as it used to be, which is only $3-4k for a new engine, much less to repair. You can buy the engine with the bike around it for $10k ish ha.

New generation Hayabusa"s stock are 1340 cc's so the 1500's that are being used a lot would be a lot more expensive to rebuild.The 1000cc GSXR powered ones are pretty slow in a straight line even compared to our M3's.Remember these cars have a lot of downforce so they need horsepower on a faster track to be WAY too much fun!

[Porschefile]

Originally Posted by Gearhead999s

New generation Hayabusa"s stock are 1340 cc's so the 1500's that are being used a lot would be a lot more expensive to rebuild.The 1000cc GSXR powered ones are pretty slow in a straight line even compared to our M3's.Remember these cars have a lot of downforce so they need horsepower on a faster track to be WAY too much fun!

Well technically a hayabusa is a GSXR unless they dropped that nomenclature recently (GSX-R 1300). But thanks, I didn't know that the motors were bored/stroked to 1500 I thought they were the stock 1300 ish cc's. Those motors make about 200hp stock @ 13k rpm, figured it would be fine for a little lightweight radical. Even still I'd be shocked if it was $10k for a rebuild of a bike based motor. You could always stick a stock busa motor in there with a low boost turbo for 300hp.

[Richbot]

These cars are running low 2:1x's at tracks like Road America, where a heavily modified and lightened M3 will be lucky to run a 2:2x. With 2 miles of straightaway they're not making all of their speed in the corners.

[Malakas]

There a group that runs/maintains Radicals at MSR Houston. You should give them a call to investigate further about running costs... Here's their website. http://www.specracersports.com/

[Gearhead999s]

Originally Posted by Richbot

These cars are running low 2:1x's at tracks like Road America, where a heavily modified and lightened M3 will be lucky to run a 2:2x. With 2 miles of straightaway they're not making all of their speed in the corners.

I know at Mosport I have to short shift to not run over the 4 cylinder ones going up the 3/4 mile straight but once we get to corner 8 which is about a 100 mph entry in our cars they are almost flat on entry and run laps 7-9 seconds quicker than we do.I do not really like running with them in the same group as I am always afraid of getting into one if one of us makes a mistake as they are hard to see.

[Richbot]

Yeah I can't imaging how hard it is to see one in a Miata, even in my Spec Racer Ford the DSR's are out of sight long before they're close enough to hit