Hello
I'm looking at a number of late model RS SR-3 cars. I was wondering how the RS 1500 car compares to a RSX in terms of competitiveness? Is there much of a difference or is it basic suspension upgrades? Aero ?
Thanks for any insight
Hi John. I know a lot of people that have a ton of seat time in both the RS and the RSX and everyone has said that there isn't much, if any, speed difference between the cars (assuming they have the same engine and options). The aerodynamics on the RSX are a bit more refined, but it doesn't make an appreciable difference. The RSXs came with more standard features that were options on the earlier cars so it is important to compare options when comparing cars (for example, floating rotors, Intrax dampers, etc). The one thing to be aware of is that some of the later 2014 RS cars and the 2015-16 RSX cars came with short stroke 1500cc engines which were slightly slower on some tracks due primarily to different torque profiles. Many of the short stroke engines have been changed out for Long strokes. You can tell the cars that came equipped with Short stroke engines because they have red air intakes.
Thanks Charley
- What about durability of the short stroke? So from what I can take from your post is it's negligible in terms of performance. RS RSX. Even the SS vs LS is a small. Why the change back to LS in 17?
John @fubawu, I don’t have any first hand experience with Short stroke engines, so I can’t really give you a good answer. I have heard stories about reliability issues, but I have heard more people say that it was simply a performance difference.
Regarding the performance difference between the generation SR3s. There is a good increase in downforce between the “standard downforce” Supersports and the “high downforce’ Supersports. The RS has improvements in downforce over the HD Supersports, but I think much of the improved performance comes from the switch K8 Hayabusa. Also there is some frame strengthening in the RS. With that said there are many cases where early cars beat newer cars because of better drivers. My recommendation to everyone buying a Radical is to buy the newest car with the lowest hours you can afford, or want to afford. Also it is worth paying a premium for a car with a documented maintenance history.
Charley
thanks Charley!
There are any officially numbers for Downforce on SR3?
