The Radical car........

How good is it?
I have heard great things and the look great, so can anyone tell me how it really is.

Hi Lee,
My November note www.ten-tenths.com/ubb/Forum15/HTML/000054.html (http://www.ten-tenths.com/ubb/Forum15/HTML/000054.html) in the Racers Forum would have told you what I think of my Radical Clubsport. I'm signed up for this year's Bi-Duro championship plus the 750MC Sports 2000 series - I can't compete seriously for the titles so I'm just going to pick the best races to do - unfortunately my budget won't stretch to the Spa & Nurburgring meetings! :( .

The new Prosport looks fabulous too, although the long-race format (2hr, 2-driver) wouldn't suit me or my wallet. In any case, the Clubsport's got more than enough performance for me.

I'll be testing at Goodwood on Sat 19th Feb with a few racer mates, pop down if you want a chat. For the championship dates see www.tastyracing.co.uk (http://www.tastyracing.co.uk)

Steve

Cheers Steve,
I remember that now, being the moderator I should remember really. Ahhhhhhh damn these a-levels taking over my brain....
I had a look at your site, I was lead to believe that there was a race at Castle Combe this year in July, is this true??
I may pop down to Goodwood, coursework allowing.
Lee

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Steve Hart:
what I think of my Radical Clubsport. I'm signed up for this year's Bi-Duro championship plus the 750MC Sports 2000 series - I can't compete seriously for the titles so I'm just going to pick the best races to do - unfortunately my budget won't stretch to the Spa & Nurburgring meetings! :( .
Steve<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Steve,

Will the Prosports be faster than the Sports 2000s? If so would you expect a migration to the Radicals?

the cost of starting up in S2000 is approx £8k plus tyres and all the other gubbins. A bit cheaper than Radicals.

If I were you I'd make sure I do Spa and Nurburgring. Forget anything else!!! ;)

Looking forward to seeing Radicals lapping Goodwood (even at test speed).
Test at Goodwood last year was the first time I saw Bob Lights beast, and knowing that he's built another one that'll race, will that be there too?? Well worth going to Goodwood in a couple of weeks then.

Combe gets Radicals 28/8, but not the quick ones. At least there's Special GT's, so we might get a few visits in the year.

Radicals at the Nurburgring - are they mad??

Hi,
According to the dates I've been given, The Radical Endurance championship (for Prosports, the quicker ones with the 200 brake Suzuki Hyabusa engine & wing on the back) have a 90min race scheduled for Combe on Aug28th. The Radical Bi-Duro championship (for Clubsports) doesn't go to Combe at all this year.

I've no idea how we'll stack up against the other Sports2000 guys, the regs are supposed to even things up with power limits and ballast etc. The Prosports aren't eligible as there's a 147bhp limit on bike-engined cars. They would be much too quick.

I think the Goodwood test day was privately booked, then advertised in 750MC mag to fill up spaces, I don't know who'll be there, should be good fun blowing away those cobwebs.

Yes Dan, Radicals at Nurburgring...totally mental! Smaller cog at the back, bigger at the front, and uprate your underpants. I know a few Radical guys who scared themselves at Spa last year, and loved every minute! I'll have to do it one day.

Cheers,
Steve

Yes, I thought we had a reace at Combe in August, I shall look forward to seeing them.
Dan, Bob Light has built another couple of his cars, which he has sold on, I know that there will be at least two of them at the opening race day at COmbe.
He sold one to a German who will be racing it accross Europe this year.

Should be good to see whether Bob Light can live with a real racing driver in the same car..... could be an interesting opening race..

Do you know of any other new cars in GT’s or Pagids for Combe this year???

Anyone know the plans of Geoff Janes? I've seen his Tuscan advertised in Autosport last month or so. Is he bailing out, getting a different car or entering the Challenge?

Oh, by the way, Bob Light's car(s) ROCK.

The 750MC Goodwood test was something of a disappointment - I failed the noise test (even though I checked with Radical and inspected the silencer packing before going) - 108db versus 105db....oh dear.

Our panic solution was to secure a wad of wire wool in the main tube, which got me through the test but I think we overdid it - on the circuit the car wouldn't rev cleanly over about 7000rpm, so spent most of the laps misfiring with terminal backpressure, like having a cushion under the right pedal. I could only just keep up with a TVR Chimaera 5.0 (on the straights that is, left it for dead through the corners of course).

Also they restricted to 5 cars on circuit at once (six laps a time) so most of time spent queuing to get on. Shame really, it's a nice circuit for testing.

Can't wait for the new season.

Steve

Oh, that is bad news, did all the radicles have that problem?
Or just yours?
Any other good cars around at the test?

Ah, thank God SOMEONE knows how to spell 'Chimaera' correctly. Right up there with 'McLaren' and 'Tyrrell'.

Yeah, any other good cars? Any Griffs for example? ;)

I was the only Radical there - some other cars already had various devices on their silencers, ranging from Supertrapp bolt-ons to Coke cans!
Other cars?...a number of FVee's, Caterhams, a lovely old Lotus single seater, your man Mr Lights with one or two home-mades, a Mazda MX6 (quite quick but cornered on its door handles)...not too much of interest really. Could have done with a few more TVRs - I'm a bit of a fan (my 400SE had to go to pay for the racing habit).

Cheers,
Steve

Was Bob Light's car as damn fine as always?

Radicals
what can you say very nice car Same about the cost £19,000.00 or £25,000 New.
Well out of the reach of club racers dont you think.

RICK,

They are a little bit pricey, but I have to say that I think they are worth every penny.
There have been many sold, and with the £25,000 you could split costs, as it is a two driver championship.
Steve, too much money or worth every penney?

Hi,
Rick you are right, it's a lot of money to part with in the beginning, although second hand cars are going for about £16,000. I'm not sure what an "average club racer" is but I had to use my mortgage to pay for it! The important thing for me was the running costs, which are not excessive. It depends on what you want out of your hobby - I wanted an easy to work on modern single(ish)-seater racing chassis without ludicrously expensive parts (eg exotic dampers), but with serious performance. I used to run an old FFord 1600, & FFirst, much cheaper to buy but actually about the same to run. The Radical is quicker than both (ie seriously quick), and much more enjoyable to drive. To be competitive in anything else with comparable performance usually has high running costs due to things like engine rebuilds etc.
The fact is if I destroy my car it'll finish my motorsport for a long time, but then life's worth a few risks. In any case as Lee says, they're not expensive really, just too new for really low-budget racing.
What worries me more is when they schedule races at tracks that are expensive to get to (eg Spa) or test at (eg Donington, see my note in Racers Forum) - then to compete in a championship you need serious budget.
Steve

400SE? [drool]

Any pics for a TVR nut (me) ???

TVRCC member?

[This message has been edited by Graham (edited 27 February 2000).]

Having been at Goodwood, i'm glad the reason for the slow Radical was mechanical rather than the driver...

Everyone had various noise killing devices, even the Caterham Roadsport needed silencing..

TVR was rapid (quite brave I thought), and the various tweaked Rovers were entertaining..

Does anyone out there know about Formula 750 cars, I think they run with a Reliant engine and are mostly hand made - but know nothing more than that.

Wow dan you get about! Testing at thruxton, and Goodwood......
Any where else planned in the near future, any tests at Combe coming up?

I had a week off last week, so managed to sneak off to test days for a couple of hours, only lasted half an hour at Thruxton because girlfriend got cold and started to complain.....

Don't know about Combe, they usually do a test on the Thursday or Friday before race day.

Dan, are you shy?....you should have introduced yourself (and your girlfriend?)! I would have explained that I only did one early run, realised it was running like a pig, and left the rest to a couple of mates who were there to take it out for a spin - enforced short-shifting is quite handy when your getting used to a sequential 'box as it's so easy to change the wrong way and kiss good bye to your engine. They were driving my car under bend-it-mend-it conditions so were quite, er....careful.

re 750 Formula, yes they are Reliant (857cc). The 750MC website www.750mc.co.uk (http://www.750mc.co.uk) has all their championship's regulations.

Cheers,
Steve

[This message has been edited by Steve Hart (edited 28 February 2000).]

We noticed the short shifting, even so, your must have very trustworthy mates....

Was yours the nice Alfa 156 or was it the tasty Merc?????

Girlfriend got embarassing when she loudly complained that my knackered Mini 1000 didn't quite look like or go like the Mini Milgia that was there, so best you don't know her.

I'd co-owned racecars with the guys I lent the car to, so I knew they'd be "sensible".

Hey, you even checked out my road car (Alfa)?? Ah well, next time....prove to me you don't have two heads or something ;)
You are lucky to have a girlfriend even remotely interested in a test day.
Steve

Radicals --- Global Lights - Similar stuff ??
I agree the Radical formula has been a great success and that's good for club racing. There was feeling amongst some members of the 750M/C that they were "using" the club as they didn't get the BRSCC deal in the first year, but that said a successful formula is good for any organising club.
But they are expensive for club racers, especially when compared to the Global Lights series that was started a few years ago, (and is now getting popular again) for anybody not familiar they are motor cycle engined sports cars (I think Yam 1000cc) v.short wheelbase but excellent suspension and cornering ability, probably better than the early Radicals. When the Radicals first came out I raced a "B Spec" Clubmans (FF1600 engine), they used to blow me away down the straights then hold me up in the corners, hopefully they have improved since then.
Still I love to race one - that seq Gbox sounds a bit dangerous though if you get wrong - still here's a man who went 1st-2nd-1st off the line at Brands once and instantly increased the stroke of my Mini screamer -ouch- Engine builder wasn't too impressed !!!

I very nearly bought a Global Lights instead, the concept is similar to a Radical. I had a long chat at last years opener at Brands with the guy who'd bought the rights to the manufacture, and who was advertising the championship as having a full Tuscan drive as 1st prize. Bought new they were cheaper than Radicals, but not hugely (£16k+VAT). Most of the drivers had early cars, which were looking a bit rough. They got their lap times down this year by allowing proper brakes (the old ones were inadequate kart jobs), trick dampers and few other chassis tweaks - the engine (600cc Yamaha) was the same. I imagine they are big fun, but I plumped for Radical as I was more convinced of the long term prospects, and they could be more readily used in other championships. Only 20 or so Lights had been made over about 4 years (dreadful marketing by the founder, I remember the early glossy handouts from Autosport show pictured a car with bits of tank-tape on it). The championship this year was dominated by one or two cars, run by the owner (since changed, I believe). It was a pity for them - the concept is great, but they've been recovering from poor management at the beginning ever since, whereas Radical got it spot on right away - one of the co-owners is a marketing man who knows what he's doing - almost every Autosport has a Radical mention somewhere. It may be cynical but it keeps a championship alive which protects your investment in the car.
The other thing I didn't like about G.Lights was rolling starts....I love standing starts, biggest buzz in the world.

re sequential boxes...the Prosport Suzuki installation has the shift the other way around causing expensive confusion for Clubsport drivers trying out the Prosport, so much so that you can now buy a kit for either model that reverses the shift pattern :)
Steve

Global Light’s never have had the quality of Radicals, both in appearance or racing. They always seem a bit tatty and get spread out when racing (down to varying preparation and quality of drivers I suppose). But a Global Light for 16 grand would seem very steep to me!!

Radicals do seem expensive as well, one horror story from last year was a certain driver forking out 15 grand for repairs after one accident!! So that’s how Abbott and co. make their money......

Steve, thanks for the 750 MC website address, been there before. But have now ordered the book about the 750 Formula, and will become a member (42 quid!!). So to search out any possible cars.