i have been to that site. remember, sport racers are highly strung, if you buy used, be sure, it's got a new or rebuilt motor, else be ready to get a new one or rebuild it SOON.

parts support on radicals is mediocre at best. and very very few shops can deal with these cars in bayarea. rennwerks comes to mind.

but i have to say that when they are working well, it's one hell of a machine. you will not belive the G force i can pull and when i am braking in my GT3, they are upshifting still!!!

however, one thing about radical and storh is that they are very bad in DE's. why??? they are too low to ground and way too small. it's very hard to see them. and also the closing speed is so fast that if you are even remotely not paying attention you will drive INTO one. i witnessed it several times.

 

check out a Stohr with a hyabusa motor. The car is made in America and I bet is much easier to get serviced than a Radical...

http://www.stohr.com/


I think SundayDriver has one...

 

yes, storh is fabulous. i have a friend in ca have one. again, very small car hard to see at DE.

i know sunday driver, mark, got one. but hey, he KNOWS how to drive. i just pretend.

 

Yummy to my eyes : ) to that Stohr. Mike

 

I think I would want roll bars extending out in a sloping fashion to the front of the **** pit. Makes me nervous on a front ender wedging underneath said vehicle with my face/head becoming a contact point...

 

Yeah rockit, I agree. I think there was a death recently from just such an incident. I might be wrong but I thought it was an experienced racer that ended up wedged under another car during a mixed DE...

Probably ought to not run with the "big" boys on track if you're in a radical or stohr.

 

Yep, at LRP.

 

Frayed,

I have a track E36 in my garage w/o engine. I raced it for two years (2001-2002) in GT2 SCCA with a 3.0L. I purchased my GT3 in November 2003 and stored my E36 since.

I've been waiting for the right moment and I'm convinced that the S54 is the best engine on this car. My 3.0L had 300 peak fwhp and would dominate the GT3 on a short (1.6mi.) track. Weight is 5,500#, empty tank. Good luck with the project. Keep me posted, I might be motivated to do mine! Best of luck, Hans

 

hans GT3, you m3 is 5500 lbs???? typo?

why S54, why not euro s52?

 

2500 lbs, thanks. I owned an E46 M3 before my GT3 and was able to modify it: Motorsport headers, straight pipes, Hamann exhaust, lwt flywheel, sport cams and chip tuning. Did over 360 fwhp, zero problems. It was sold back to the BMW dealership for racing, and I was able to see it race for two seasons, same engine. I have seen a few Euro S52s race here in PR. They are having reliability issues once they start modding them. Also, they will cost more than a stock used S54, which you can get for $6500. Plan to spend up to $25K on a full blown race S54 or $40K on a race S52. Those 5500 made me laugh a bit (M3 or X5?) Thanks for pointing it out. Hans.

Hans

 

Hans, I like the S54 solution for a full blown race car but I'm not keen on one for a street car. The S54 will require standalone engine management, and mid-throttle response, low load response, etc that are important to fine tune for a street car, aren't particularly important for a race car. Running outboard mangagement also increases the cost considerably. Also, the better engine builders recommend that you at least go through the S54 and blueprint/balance it for better long term durability, further adding to the cost.

Install requires a bunch of modifications to peripherals. Certain parts have to be machined/modified/moved, while the S50B32 (Euro 3.2L) is much more of a direct fit, and you can use the euro electronics (no outboard engine management).

360 rear wheel hp is pretty insane though. . .one would have a tough time getting that power out of the S50B32 and keeping it together.

Most of this isn't important for a full blown race car, but I do plan to drive the car to the track and every once in a while on the street. My new car is a E36 M3 LTW, and I'm after a super clean, factory install with factory electronics, and am not willing to turn it into a total frankencar.

BTW, I'll have a sweet GroupN S50B30 (Euro 3.0) available for sale if you know anyone interested, full kit with wiring harness, etc.

 

Cannot agree more. It will be beautiful, genuine, and great to drive. Enjoy!

On that Euro 3.0L , please e-mail info @ hansmoll@gmail.com

Thanks.