Radical SR10: bring back trackdays!
Want your own little Le Mans prototype? Of course you do
Wind it up and the Radical can e ortlessly separate you from the contents of your stomach and power of rational thought
Plenty of makers claim to produce a ‘race car with number plates’, and while these usually offer very extreme performance, it always comes with the caveat ‘for a road car’.
The Radical SR10 does not have number plates and on a circuit it can comfortably run rings around most things that do without much bother, because instead it has things like downforce, slick tyres and a Formula 2-derived transaxle gearbox.
Quite a specialist car, you might think, and perhaps a bit intimidating to clamber into at a cold, wet Bedford Autodrome, which hasn’t been used much lately because of the virus, and is therefore a bit slippery.
We warm up first in the technically tamer SR3 XX (more on this later) before being let loose in the 425bhp, turbocharged SR10, which carries significantly less than a tonne of mass. Forget the McLaren 620R, the Radical has a power-toweight ratio to rival a P1. Oh, and there are no driver aids. Not even ABS.
You might think Radical brave to let someone with a racing CV shorter than the SR10’s rear overhang loose in these conditions. But this is a car designed, surprisingly, around user-friendliness and reliability. As well as enormous speed.
There’s no screaming motorbike engine like the SR3 XX, its 10k-plus-change redline swapped for a four-cylinder Ford engine. Albeit one with forged pistons and conrods, and boosted by a Garrett turbocharger, with a dry sump for better durability. Because the motor is unstressed it’s easy to maintain and can go longer between rebuilds than the bike-powered car. So it’s ideal for club use.
That is, however, only half the story. The rest makes itself known during a burst of full throttle in second and third gear when, with an open visor, the wind rush nearly pulls my head off. The SR10 is pepperoni-pupils fast. It warps from one corner exit to the next braking point with no discernible transition.
Helping to ease you in is a dial on the wheel with eight throttle map settings, and in its lower
reaches it’s pretty linear, approachable even, surging forward with a predictable delivery that helps you build confidence. Wind it up, though, and the Radical can effortlessly separate you from the contents of your stomach and power of rational thought.
It’s here where the SR10 makes ground on the SR3 XX. You can let the less powerful, bike-engined car pull away and then peg it back on the straights like you’re connected by bungee cord. In the corners both cars have huge grip, with confidence-inspiring stability under braking, on turn-in and particularly mid-bend thanks to all that downforce at work. And when grip levels do begin to wane the Radical buzzes-in with feedback faster than a student on University Challenge. It is nothing short of sensational.
For private trackday enthusiasts the cheaper SR3 XX would do just fine – it’s just as thrilling in the corners and, frankly, makes a better noise. Yet while both are easy to pick up but dicult to master, the additional performance of the SR10 means it has the higher operating ceiling. And ultimately that makes it the more compelling daydream.
First verdict
Better than the SR3? Tricky but yes, because if money’s no object then no other car makes such wild performance so accessible #####