Will a Radical be too much car for me?

James,
good afternoon.

I would encourage you to go for the SR3.  I have many big smiles after buying mine.  I was in a similar position as you one year ago. I was tracking Porsche Gt3. I bought a Radical, SR 3 XX.  What I have learned, is that it a worthwhile and fun  endeavor. You will learn more about chassis dynamics and driving than  you anticipated. The Radical does not have traction control, or ABS. Because of that you will learn how to brake correctly and manage the weight distribution of the car.  I also taught myself how to left foot brake.

The maintenance required is more than a GT type car. I had no experience maintaining a Radical But I have been doing it myself and not had a problem. I have changed oil, and GDU oil, serviced axles, performed alignment, and drop height.  The specific topics in this forum are a real benefit on how to perform the various tasks. I do use my quick  jack to lift the car. There is a topic on that in this forum also.

Have fun and good luck!

Hi James (@cbrrida), welcome to the Registry!  The short answer is No, these cars will not be too much for you.  In fact your fun at the track will be greatly increased.  🙂  There are only two problems with owning a Radical.  The first problem is that it is extremely difficult to wipe the smile from you face after you drive it. And the second is that after you spend some time in a light weight , downforce car with slicks and paddle shifting you will never be impressed with a street based car again.

Your instinct to focus on an SR3 is a good one in my opinion. There are many reasons why the SR3 is the best selling car in Radicals line up.  The Ratio of Performance / dollar is excellent, and it is a car that is relatively easy to drive fast.  Although there is definitely a learning curve, as Ron pointed out. I came down a similar path to yours.  I was tracking Corvettes and got to the point where my car had so many modifications that it really wasn't a good street car anymore and it wasn't a great track car.  At first I started looking and driving Corvette Race cars, but decided if I was going that far I may as well get a downforce car... and it was one of the best decisions I have made  🙂 I was surprised how much the computers in the Corvette were compensating for my driving.  The SR3 is an ideal place to refine you driving skills.  The SR1 is a fine car, but there are very few of them in the United States (I don't know where you live) so you don't have a lot of people to drive with.  The exception to that is there are quite a few in Georgia.  The SR8 is also a fantastic car and it has the most beautiful engine sounds, but your maintenance costs will be much higher than in the SR3.  The SR10 is also a very good choice, but for your first Radical I would recommend starting with an SR3.

I am looking forward to hearing what you end up getting.  By the way, I work with a lot of people to help them get into a car that is right for them.  I don't charge for this, I just like seeing people get into cars that fit their needs.  If you would like to talk about it some time you can PM me or email me at CharleyH@RadicalSportscarRegistry.com. and I can give you my phone number.

Posted by: @cbrrida

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Hello all, I have been tracking a stock GTR for a few years and have about 30 track days under my belt.  I always felt I couldn't be confident with the GTR with its weight to drive it as hard as I feel like I am capable of.  Instead of modifying the GTR I want sell it and get into something purpose built and just do HPDE.   I have limited garage space so I have been maintaining the GTR with QuickJacks, which I am a bit sick of laying under such a large mass.  I am quite mechanically inclined and never visited the dealer in the 8 years I owned it and I hope to be able to do the same with a Radical.  I am eying mostly a SR3, but also interested in SR1 and even a SR8.  I have never driven an aero car or on slicks.  So the question is, will a radical be too much car for me?  Could I drive SR8 slow or is it very aero dependent and so I have to drive it fast to get grip?  The car is quite open so is quite accessible, but can I really take care of most things myself?  I appreciate any advice here, thank you.

I jumped straight in and bought an SR3 as my first track car. I had previous track day experience doing various arrive-n-drive experiences and 2 days in my own road car (nothing like a GTR), but nowhere near 30 days worth of experience.

The SR3 is so easy to drive on and over the limit of grip, it is recoverable from surprisingly large acute angles at low speed, and at high speed with the downforce it doesn't snap away, all slides are still progressive. Even in full wet conditions it's great fun. 

You'll have no trouble at all, and you'll be lapping a huge chunk quicker than a stock GTR, even at 7/10th's. 

I wouldn't bother with the SR1, they are around 4 seconds slower round a short 2mile lap of Donington national here in the UK, which is quite a bit of time. You will probably miss the relentless power of a GTR compared to an SR3 down the straight though, in which case an SR8 might be more up your street. SR3 is definitely a momentum car and because of the downforce, many corners are already high speed so you don't experience a lot of acceleration thrills over an average lap. 

i wish i could afford an SR10. life goals 🙄 

An aero car is driven quite differently than your GTR.  Even at slow speeds the mechanical grip will be much higher.  The hard part for me was to learn how to drive a momentum car vs. the factory five cobra (tons of power, minimal aero) I had before.  At first, I wasn't as fast as driving the cobra, once I learned how to carry speed through the corners, brake far less, get on the throttle much, much earlier, I was significantly faster.  The grip at downforce speed is hard to describe.  It's still difficult for my mind to believe the car will grip going into turns at these insane speeds.  The force you feel on your body is just crazy.  If you buy the sR3 you won't be disappointed.

I'll most likely upgrade to a SR10 down the road, I definitely think you should start with the SR3 first.

If your goal is just to do track days and not race, don’t sleep on the SR1. It’s still stupid fast compared to almost any street car, well driven it will still be the fastest car at most HPDE events. The buy-in is significantly lower, running costs are significantly lower, the drivetrain is less stressed and can go longer intervals between rebuilds, etc. The gap between SR1 and SR3 is variable by track, at my home track it’s only a 2 second difference. Expect any of these cars to test your physical fitness. Spending a good portion of a lap at 2G’s is way more physically taxing than you would think. 

Hi James, welcome to the forum. I'll second the recommendation for getting an SR3. Like many of us amateur Radical owners, I came from a high-hp street car (Corvettes in my case). And, as Charley said, once you get on top of driving a Radical (definitely set some cash aside for personal coaching), you'll never want to drive a street car on the track again. 

In my case, I started with an SR8, and while I'd say I've got it under control now, the learning curve for that much power and that much "race car" maintenance took years to get comfortable. The SR3 is way faster than any street car out there, including Porsche GT3s. 

Hi everyone, thanks for such warm welcome and reassurance that a Radical isn't going to chew me up and spit me out.  But it seems like I did not need much convincing at all because after reading the first couple of posts I was already in the process of securing a car.  So I am now waiting on the delivery of a new-to-me SR3 RSX, should be here next week.  I am loving the comparison to a GT3 some of you are making, as that had been my aspiration for a long time, so it's good to hear I might be moving into something even more extreme.  This is both exciting and intimidating.  look forward to sharing war stories with all of you.