If you want to go fast on track, then a Radical is probably somewhere on your radar. And for most people, that Radical is likely to be the SR1, which serves as the first rung on the Radical ladder.
Radical Motorsport is now offering the SR1 in XXR form, just as it has the more extreme SR3 and SR10 in recent months, with design and engineering improvements to the car’s ease of use and durability, as well as aerodynamic changes.
Central to the SR1 XXR is a new fifth-generation 1340cc four-cylinder engine, hand-built by Radical Performance Engines. It’s effectively a motorcycle engine, compact and lightweight and making almost 200bhp, with a new drive-by-wire throttle, lighter connecting rods and crankshaft pins, and even less weight in the ignition system. It’s attached to a six-speed sequential gearbox.
The big improvement, according to Radical, is in durability: engine refresh intervals are extended by 25 per cent, and warm-up time has reduced, both ensuring more time out on track. Oil change intervals have also increased, from every six to every ten hours. The dry sump system has been revised, as has the cooling system.
Other SR1 characteristics remain present and correct, from fully-adjustable suspension to a fibreglass body (now with an LMP-style aero fin in XXR spec) that keeps repair costs below the level of more overtly exotic track and race specials. Semi-slick tyres, rather than the full slicks of the SR3 and SR10, keep things a little friendliner for those stepping up from less extreme machines.
And if racing is your thing, Radical does have something of a head start here too, given there are twelve Radical Cup championships around the world, as far afield as Korea and the Philippines. The XXR upgrades haven’t affected the SR1’s eligibility for these – owners will still be able to compete in the PRO SR1 classes in these series.
Order books for the SR1 XXR are now open, and Radical says production will begin this summer.
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