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Le mans type bodied cars
bitsilly - 17/6/10 at 05:34 PM

I was once told that a Radical, although faster, would not be as much fun as the Striker I had at the time.
I now have a a Fury which I didn't build but I do love!
But older cars like Radicals, Westfield XTR's and Spires seem to be coming up as pretty leggy but much more reasonable prices.
I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of them as track cars??
Cheers

bitsilly - 17/6/10 at 05:45 PM

And formula ford cars from £3K!!
Wonder what they are like too!

austin man - 17/6/10 at 05:51 PM

The ones Ive seen on 750 cc motor racing and BARC are pretty quick around most circuits faster than the fury's and sevens aas a rule. There is footage of a radical doing the Nurburgring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbmDKZ78MOU

scootz - 17/6/10 at 05:55 PM

That's be a bucket of a FF car at £3k! Never seen a remotely-decent starter for any less than £5k. Great if you want a track-only toy... but expect a world of pain if you want to try and put one on the road! Even if you do succeed... it will not be much fun to drive!

£10k seems to be the starting point for tired, old Radicals... and £13k the starter for a Westfeld XTR.

I'm afraid I know now't about the Spires...

These are all definitely worth it if you plan on doing mostly track-days with the odd Sunday morning blast.

bitsilly - 17/6/10 at 06:03 PM

I guess they would be tired examples, but similars are around:
http://www.pistonheads.com/SALES/1164605.htm
It would only be for track use, but guess they wouldn't be allowed at most track days??

bitsilly - 17/6/10 at 06:08 PM

I like the Ring footage!
Brave fellah!

scootz - 17/6/10 at 06:09 PM

The Vee-Sheanes are a cheaper machine, but you would probably have just as much fun in one on a track-day as a FF.

Also look out for Formula Junior Vauxhalls... a pretty nice one went for £2k on eBay recently!

bitsilly - 17/6/10 at 06:16 PM

Are they fun?
What I mean is, say if the back steps out, as you will be going b%^^&y fast, would it be catchable? Do they move around progressively or grip, grip and then spin?
That said, I would probably chicken out way before they are anywhere near!

jacko - 17/6/10 at 06:22 PM

Like this
Jon Ison is the man to ask
Donnington May2003
Donnington May2003

scootz - 17/6/10 at 06:27 PM

Oooh... that's pretty!

eddie99 - 17/6/10 at 06:30 PM

The Formula Vee and formula ford cars will only be allowed on race testing days in which you will need to have completed ARDS test. I plan on doing my ARDS test in July and buying a FVee to race from 2011.

scootz - 17/6/10 at 06:31 PM

quote:
Originally posted by bitsilly
Are they fun?
What I mean is, say if the back steps out, as you will be going b%^^&y fast, would it be catchable? Do they move around progressively or grip, grip and then spin?
That said, I would probably chicken out way before they are anywhere near!


On slicks they pretty-much handle like a big go-kart. They have huge levels of grip once the tyres are hot and are very communicable

You will learn a lot from the machine, but remember... it is absolutely knackering putting laps in using one of these. Not for leisurely drives.

scootz - 17/6/10 at 06:32 PM

quote:
Originally posted by eddie99
The Formula Vee and formula ford cars will only be allowed on race testing days in which you will need to have completed ARDS test. I plan on doing my ARDS test in July and buying a FVee to race from 2011.


That's a good point Eddie!

CRAIGR - 17/6/10 at 07:51 PM

I do like that. I want one.

[Edited on 17/6/10 by CRAIGR] Rescued attachment donmay1.jpg
Rescued attachment donmay1.jpg

jacko - 17/6/10 at 09:00 PM

quote:
Originally posted by CRAIGR
I do like that. I want one.

[Edited on 17/6/10 by CRAIGR]

Have a look in Jon Ison's photos i think you will like what he had / has
Jacko

CRAIGR - 18/6/10 at 07:28 AM

quote:
Originally posted by jacko
quote:
Originally posted by CRAIGR
I do like that. I want one.

[Edited on 17/6/10 by CRAIGR]

Have a look in Jon Ison's photos i think you will like what he had / has
Jacko

Already trawled his archive and want one even more now.

Rustybin - 18/6/10 at 09:47 AM

I currently run a Radical Clubsport that I am converting to Hayabusa power from the original ZZR1100.

I reckon the clubsport is a bit of a bargain. For 8.5k you should get a 2002 on model which will generally be quicker than most similarly powered seven-a-likes. As a comparrison, I hillclimb with a friend who has a blackbird powered Caterham and I am generally a couple of seconds quicker than him on a hillclimb of 30 to 45 seconds.

For track days they are pretty ideal. They are a bit of a pain to get the body on and off on your own but other wise they are fairly easy to run.

They handle pretty gently. They will spin quicker than a front engined car but they are quite progressive. Bear in mind they were designed for menopausal city chaps rather than sixteen year old whippets who want to be the next Hamilton, so they needed to be fairly benign.

I used to run a FF2000 on trackdays (back when you could) and I reckon the radical is considerably quicker due to more sophisticated aero and not dragging a boat anchor, relatively untuned, car engine around.

The only down side is that to keep the value on a Radical you need to remain race eligible which means original configuration, which is a)dull and b)means you need to get bits from Radical who are not cheap, particularly for the bits that break.

HTH

bitsilly - 19/6/10 at 10:39 AM

Cheers for that.
Ed

mad-butcher - 19/6/10 at 02:20 PM

what ever happened to the GT1 project, I know the GTR project was sold to spire,

tony

expatkiwi - 19/6/10 at 02:31 PM

I would love an lmp style car with rotary power in the rear.