How Radical's latest machines fare on track

The coronavirus pandemic has meant everyone jumping through hoops just to go about their daily lives, and of course it's no different in motorsport. Many felt the pinch last year as events became fewer and harder to do, and competitors struggled for budget. The tremors were felt across the industry, from organisers to manufacturers and suppliers too. We all hope for much better in 2021.

Nevertheless, Radical launched two new cars amid the pandemic - well, one brand-new one and one upgraded one - and Autosport is among the first group of people outside of Radical's inhouse team to be offered a chance to try the new kit out on track. We've been invited to a 'COVID-secure' test day at Bedford Autodrome to see for ourselves what Radical has been up to since the UK first went into coronavirus meltdown back in March 2020.

But first, the hoops. The 'joining instructions' for the event, issued by organiser Motocom on Radical's behalf, run to three sides of A4. Obviously, anyone displaying symptoms, returning from an at-risk country abroad, or asked to isolate by the NHS, can't get near the place, and we all must follow social distancing rules. Face masks are mandatory, arrival times staggered, only one driver per car per session, and both cars are sanitised after each outing (which runs to an hour).

I didn't race at all in 2020, for the first time since 1996, so motorsport's COVID-19 protocol is new to me, but actually the hassle is minimal, and the day passes without a hitch, although it does feel slightly odd not being able to so easily hold those casual conversations with engineers, mechanics and fellow drivers that ordinarily lubricate such experiences. It's an intricate work of stage management, but it feels good to be out on track again, discovering what Radical has been up to while coronavirus waves swept the planet.

As it turns out, Radical has been very busy indeed, working on the first orders for the new RPE Ford EcoBoost-powered SR10, as well as rolling out the latest iteration of its most popular open sports-prototype - the SR3 XX. The example I'm driving won the 750 Motor Club's annual Birkett Relay at Silverstone (below), just before UK club motorsport went back into lockdown.

The 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' mantra continues to underpin Radical's most successful model, of which it has sold thousands worldwide since introducing it in 2002. This latest iteration focuses principally on updating the electronics. The conventional wiring loom is replaced with what Radical calls a 'solid-state Power Distribution Module', the aim being a 65% weight saving and increased efficiency when capturing and transmitting data, as well as finding and solving faults.

This is incorporated with a new Formula steering wheel and integrated dash from renowned, long-time Radical supplier AiM, which includes scope for tyre temperature and pressure (and ride-height) sensors to be fitted. This is pretty high-tech stuff for club racing. Radical hopes these new options will be particularly useful for endurance events.

There are several largely cosmetic alterations to the mirrors, rear-wing endplates and the seat (wider and more comfortable), but otherwise it's the same tried-and-trusted package: spaceframe chassis mated to Radical's own Suzuki-based 1340cc or 1500cc motorbike engine; six-speed sequential gearbox with paddleshift; and Quaife limited-slip differential.

There are no real surprises here. You know what you're going to get for £69,000 (before options), but you also know you can be confident it's going to feel great once you get going.

To begin with, I try to drive the SR10 like the SR3, but it simply won't take it. 'Point and squirt' seems better for how this particular car is handling

To that end, first up we have some acclimatisation laps to do with British Touring Car racer Bobby Thompson, who does some driver-coaching in Radicals when he's not panel bashing.

I don't know Bedford, so these half-dozen tours as Bobby's passenger are very helpful. Everything comes at you thick and fast on this track, and there's not much by way of scenery or furniture to take as a reference. The trackday signs and cones are all there is to go on really.

We are on a version of Bedford's 'West' circuit: hairpin left, hard braking, second gear. Short blast up to a left-right esses (taken in third), which acts as your braking zone for a long, tightening left (patience is a real virtue here). You accelerate through a right-hander onto a short straight, before another (tighter this time) left-right sequence.

We use the tighter, shorter hairpin left at the back of the circuit before blasting back towards the pits. In our way stands a quick chicane (taken in third or fourth gears), through which you try to attack the kerbs without clipping the cones, then a fast left-hander (taken in fourth) and an even quicker right (taken in fifth and probably flat with more confidence and better tyres) to complete the lap.

As you'd expect with an SR3, it's all about being precise and maintaining momentum. It's a proper physical workout (especially after so long away from driving) but enormous fun too. I have to strain my neck to see the dash (which is too low for my height), so it's better to relax and do things by feel instead.

This car feels hooked up - no doubt it's well set up after winning the Birkett - and it's not too long before I'm lapping a couple of seconds faster on my own than Bobby was doing with my 80kg frame acting as unwelcome ballast.

After a short break to catch my breath and stretch my legs, it's time to hop into the SR10. This is essentially an updated SR8 chassis, featuring the same swanky new data-logging and electronics as the SR3 XX, mated to a Ford EcoBoost engine stripped and refettled by Radical's in-house team.

The idea here is to give wealthy trackday enthusiasts and endurance racing nuts a high-end option with superior reliability and driveability compared with the conventional SR8, which is high revving and thus high stress for its engine's components.

The engine in the SR10 has eight different torque maps, depending on conditions and preference. I'm told the first five offer linear progression; six to eight exponential, to a peak of 380lb ft. The 2.2-litre V6 produces 425bhp, all transmitted through the same six-speed Hewland sequential transaxle deployed on the former FIA F2 cars that now underpin the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver test.

I do my out-lap in mode 5, but quickly decide to switch up to 'full beans'. I mean, the track is dry, life is short, so why not? To begin with, I try to drive this car like the SR3, but it simply won't take it. 'Point and squirt' seems better for how this particular car is handling. The performance of the engine straight out of the box is impressive, but it doesn't feel as though the chassis can quite keep up with it.

The SR10 features a different cooling set-up to the SR3, deploying radiators at the front rather than sides of the car, so there is extra weight on the nose, plus diveplanes for extra aero load.

The weight distribution - something Radical worked hard on with the previous iteration of the SR8 - has come further forward still on the SR10, but the car is overall heavier than an SR8, and you can feel it's lazier than the SR3 I've just driven. The brakes are a bit spongey, and the front won't stay down - power-on understeer and high-speed understeer abound around the lap.

It feels as though Radical is potentially reaching the limit of the development curve for this type of spaceframe sportscar, but maybe that's OK - Porsche has produced iterations of the same basic 911 for decades now

But this is to be expected. Radical tells me this car is pretty much the first one to roll off the production line. It's done a couple of photo/video shoots (at Cadwell Park and in a studio), but this is its first proper outing on track. No set-up work has taken place yet - that begins once the car reaches its next destination: Spring Mountain, Nevada, USA, where the car was set to undergo an extensive test programme.

Unsurprisingly, this leaves the SR10 trailing the SR3 in terms of overall enjoyment of the driving experience. The SR10 is obviously potentially well capable of outgunning the SR3, particularly with the added grunt from that EcoBoost engine, but the overall package is not there yet.

It also feels as though Radical is potentially reaching the limit of the development curve for this type of spaceframe sportscar, but maybe that's OK - Porsche has produced iterations of the same basic 911 for decades now. Not every new car needs root-and-branch redesigning to produce greater excitement or find its gap in the market.

I mean, just look at the SR3 - almost 20 years old and still by far Radical's most popular and successful model. And rightly so. You have to hustle it; you have to drive it. Power is nice of course, but it's not the be all and end all.

That said, if Radical can get the SR10 and that turbo engine to handle as well as this SR3, it's going to take some beating...

Resisting the Revolution

The last car I drove before getting my shot in Radical's latest offerings was the new carbonfibre-based sportscar designed by Radical co-founder Phil Abbott.

PLUS: Driving club racing's Revolution

His Revolution, which is about bringing cutting-edge technology into national-level racing at a relatively affordable price, is still very much in its infancy, but several cars supported Formula 1's Portuguese Grand Prix last season, and Abbott is confident that his product will develop quickly as the technology becomes better understood and lessons are applied.

The Radical SR10 and the Revolution are on a collision course in the high-end, single-make, open-topped sportscar market. Both cars retail slightly north of £100,000, and Radical is confident that the technical specification of the SR10 will roughly equate with performance figures for the Revolution.

The timing of the launch of Radical's latest offerings gives the impression that the company is reacting to what Abbott's doing, but Radical says its concepts for the SR3 XX and SR10 (circa 2018/19) predate the Revolution, which broke cover in late 2018. In fact, the SR10's EcoBoost-based drivetrain is an evolution of a concept already deployed on the RXC (launched by Abbott before he left) and the Rapture, while the chassis is the same as that used for the tried- and-trusted SR8.

But, of course, Radical is well aware of what Abbott has brought to the party and says it is "evaluating carbon in our product planning". But the current feeling is that the SR8 chassis has been so successful for so long, there is no reason to chuck the baby out while the bath water is still warm.

Even so, it feels like we're reaching a seminal moment, perhaps similar to what occurred during the 1960s in F1, when spaceframe resistance to the growing monocoque tide ultimately proved futile. We're not there yet, but Abbott has certainly laid down a serious challenge to the established way of doing things.

Nevertheless, Radical appears to be in rude health. Its Peterborough manufacturing centre has remained open for business throughout the pandemic, and the company says it has an order book to keep it busy well into the spring. Radical has also recently expanded into the Philippines and Romania, and added new dealerships in the Benelux region, Western Australia, New Zealand and the US.