The Radical rise of a top prototype squad

A cluster of neatly presented white-and-green machines leading the way in the Radical Club Challenge has been a common sight this season. The LM Racing team has taken the 750 Motor Club-administered series by storm and its drivers currently lead all three divisions. But what makes that success all the more remarkable is that the squad’s founder Leon Morrell only completed his first season of racing five years ago and had no idea then of the team ownership journey he would embark upon. 

Morrell’s story is, on the surface, a familiar one. Car-obsessed as a boy, he used to race remote control cars before progressing to trackday outings in a variety of hot hatches as he grew up. Next he built a kit car with a Hayabusa motorbike engine, which proved to be a very significant moment in his story. 

“It was really fast and the only thing that ever overtook me on a race track was a Radical,” Morrell recalls. “So, in my head, that was the next step. I was like, ‘How on Earth do I get a Radical?’” But that was far from straightforward for Morrell and his humble background. “A used SR3 was north of £50,000 and I didn’t have that,” he continues.  

For many, that financial obstacle would have brought any Radical racing ambitions to a crashing halt. But Morrell was determined to get on the grid and began to look at some creative ways of doing so. “I managed to find a lot of parts and a bare chassis,” he explains. “I didn’t know how it was going to go and didn’t know if I would even get to race – it was one of those pipedreams. Over six/eight months, I bought a few parts. I completed the car in COVID times and managed to get a few good deals.” 

Morrell was aided by his small carpet-fitting business securing a lucrative contract to fit out a local primary school that had got flooded and urgently needed to reopen to cater for children of farm workers and hospital staff, but was facing a furlough-induced brick wall when trying to make progress. The funds from that job enabled Morrell and his mate ‘Woody’ – a long-serving Radical mechanic – to get the SR3 finished. Morrell completed a couple of trackdays before making his debut in what was then called Bikesports at Silverstone in August 2020. 

“It was the biggest-ever grid the 750MC had in Radicals with over 30 cars,” Morrell recalls of the pent-up demand that had grown during the pandemic. “I was mid-pack in my first-ever qualifying session and that was a pretty special moment. At Oulton Park [the next round] I got an outright podium, so started to get to grips with it, but ran out of budget so couldn’t do the last race of the season.” 

Nevertheless, the experience had left Morrell wanting more and he was determined to contest a full campaign. “For 2021 it was an interest-only credit card and every penny I could find,” he says, and that effort to “engineer ways to keep myself racing” was rewarded with an impressive Class B and overall championship at the end of his first proper season. “You back yourself and know you can race but to be so cocksure to think you’re going to win the championship in your first year is a bit naive,” Morrell adds. “It was quite cool and was a big achievement because the boy had realised his dreams.  

“From that point on, there’s no going back once you’ve raced a Radical and have started to get to grips with it and realise how good the cars are. You will not find a faster car than a Radical for the money – you’re doing GT3 lap times for club racing budgets – and it’s an incredible bit of kit. It’s a great atmosphere in the 750MC paddock and I’ve made some great friends, the paddock is brilliant.”  

Morrell achieved three titles in four years. Here he is en route to 2023 glory

Photo by: Mick Walker

More success followed with Morrell achieving two further outright and Class B titles. But for 2025 he decided he wanted a fresh challenge. Morrell jumped into a PR6 with the goal of securing the top-class title, and this therefore freed up the SR3 for someone else. “I won the Class B championship three times out of four so felt like there was nothing to prove,” he states. “We rented my old car, the SR3, to a young Brazilian called Pedro Oliveira and he had a class title fight and narrowly missed out.”  

Although neither of them enjoyed championship success, the foundations had well and truly been laid for LM Racing. Among the next to join the squad was Charles Hall, who had previously raced a Mittell in Bikesports before its Radical Club Challenge metamorphosis, but Morrell was able to tempt the ex-Formula 3 and US single-seater racer back. As Morrell puts it: “The snowball then started.” 

More and more people wanted to become a part of the LM Racing operation, including the likes of Aaron Rose, who Morrell had known from his days racing remote control cars. Suddenly, Morrell found himself running a fleet of seven Radicals for 2026, with that set to grow even further for the next round at Silverstone with the addition of 750MC Clio champion James Bark. “I haven’t got time to think about it,” Morrell smiles when asked about the rapid expansion. “As a person, I’m at my best when I’m worked – something inside me doesn’t like sitting still. I’ve got a very supportive wife and family that attend every round.  

“The way we operate is we have fun, are very friendly, but very professional and try as hard as hell but we’re not too serious. Logistically and commercially trying to run eight cars is quite a task, but the business has grown. We’ve got Radical approved status – all of our staff have been through training courses and assessments with Radical.

If you asked me eight months ago, ‘Will you be running eight cars at Silverstone and leading the championship? Is that going to happen?’ I would have said the chances of that were non-existent” Leon Morrell

“It’s gone from strength to strength and it’s gone hand in hand with the growth of the championship. If you asked me eight months ago, ‘Will you be running eight cars at Silverstone and leading the championship? Is that going to happen?’ I would say it would not. I would have said the chances of that were non-existent.” 

Yet LM Racing’s success has been very real and, alongside the growing collection of trophies to the team’s name, one of the areas that has given Morrell the most satisfaction is on the commercial front. He describes “attracting major corporate sponsors” and “getting them to see the value within club motorsport”. Guests that the squad hosts from companies such as MPM Oils have given very strong feedback and some have even gone on to secure work as mechanics, with the team having had the chance to be in the garage and look at the data. “For us to have attracted sponsors like that, and retained them, is quite an achievement,” Morrell adds.  

He now has aspirations to run cars in the top-tier Radical Cup UK championship and possibly beyond. “We’ve been doing the unexpected so watch this space!” Morrell concludes. It seems we can therefore expect to see plenty more of the white-and-green machines running at the front of races in the years to come.

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the Summer 2026 issue and subscribe today.

‘Snowball’ effect means that Morrell’s squad is riding the crest of a wave

Photo by: Steve Jones