Britain certainly has a nice little industry going producing super-lightweight racetrack cars. Between Radical, Caterham, BAC, Ariel, Ultima, Zenos and the odd dalliance by Lotus, the UK produces a staggering array of track-only and road/track toys with which to feed all manner of race series, as well as simply giving track day junkies a fix.
With super-light bodies and powerful engines, these things frequently out-accelerate supercars at a fraction of the price, and they're designed to corner like high-speed go-karts, delivering serious cornering grip befitting their race-ready mission statements.
The latest is the Radical SR10, which packs the biggest punch yet in the company's SR Sports Racer series. Using a mid-mounted 2.3-liter "high output" Ford EcoBoost inline four with a custom-tailored Garrett G-series turbo along with new induction and engine management systems, the SR10 pounds out more than 425 horsepower and 380 lb-ft (515 Nm) of torque.
It doesn't sound like a whole lot in this day and age, but remember, the whole thing only weighs around 725 kg (1,600 lb) so it'll go like a rocket. A new Hewland six-speed paddle-shift auto-blip gearbox, derived from GT3 racing, puts the power down to the rear hoops through a WaveTrac torque-biasing limited slip differential, and Radical says the whole thing is designed with durability in mind, to keep you on the track longer and minimize maintenance.
Other new bits include a multi-page LCD display on the steering wheel, letting you cycle through electronic engine and gearbox options, as well as how much weight you want in the optional electronic power steering system, which appears on the SR line here for the first time.
Between the stiff, lightweight spaceframe chassis, the high-downforce bodywork, the adjustable Nik-Link suspension system, the interchangeable roll bars and Intrax triple-adjustable anti-roll dampers, the SR10 will stick prodigiously to the tarmac, delivering up to 2.3 g of lateral acceleration. To put that in perspective, the wickedly quick and grippy Porsche 911 GT3 RS clocks in at 1.24 g, topping the "grip kings" chart over at fastestlaps.com. Yeah, the SR10 is gonna corner just fine.
Its 77-liter (20.3-gal) fuel tank is foam-filled to reduce sloshing and measures up to FIA specs – as do the safety cell and crash structure, the LED race lighting system and the fire extinguisher. The built-in datalogging system includes tire pressure and temperature monitors and laser-measured ride height logging; an optional data pack upgrades this to include brake, steering and suspension sensors, a video recording system, AIM race beacon and GPS tracking.
It looks like a fine little beast to throw around a circuit, and while it's a pricey toy, starting at around US$160,000, there appears to be no shortage of race-mad drivers ready to throw down the cash for a purpose-built apex destroyer like this. Check out a short video below.
Source: Radical Sportscars