jbossolo

Which one would you choose?
To be used only for DE (10-12 events/year), no racing (yet).
Opinions welcome.

racer

Radical.

ltc

Atom

mooty

radical.
but both are way too fast for DE. you will spend more time on braking than WOT.

Circuit Motorsports

Sent you a PM. For overall simple, quick and good learning device I'd go with the Atom.

It's a Honda. It'll last forever and could go the entire season just getting gas.

FFaust

What about a Stohr ... if you don't really need a two-seater.

FFaust

And that's the problem... unless you have access to a lot of open track days.

GT3 Techno

I have a friend who bought an Atom and sold it quickly... he is very happy now. This thing is not designed to go fast on a track. More a compromise for street driving where it is allowed ! The height is too high for a formula car and if you bring it down, you will get into mechanical issues. (BTW his mechanic is a former Champ Car engineer...).

Astroman

I have a buddy who has a Radical. It's a killer little car and he loves it. However, he drives it less now since he realized (the hard way) it costs $1000 every time you go agricultural and drive it through the grass... evidently a Radical splitter does not like the grass...

VERBOTN

One consideration for the radical or any aero car is that speed matters. Its a mental break-thru moment when you go into T-? flat and know the car is hooked up vs. a traditional non aero car when you have to lift and trail brake.

Enjoy the selection process if those are your options I would go for radical

FFaust

Andre, your friend is happy because he sold his Atom or because he bought something else? And if so, what did he get? A Stohr?

Crazy Canuck

M.K. had a Radical. May still have it. Now has a Stohr. Crazy fast. Has the record at Calabogie.

FFaust

Thanks, I've met Mike. In fact I'm hoping to have time to drop in to see him next week. This is a whole other side of track driving.

dp35

With all due respect, its hard not to think that your friend lacks skill in driving and/or car & tire setup. With some of these skills, an Atom can go faster than any other stock street car that I've seen. But we all have our own definition of "fast". If you come from Champ cars you might not consider 1:33 at Laguna Seca or 1:42 at Infineon fast.

I've never had the pleasure of driving a Radical, but I'm sure they're great fun, and potentially faster than an Atom. However I've been faster than Radicals at the track more often than not.

The Atom's advantage vs a Radical is durability & low maintenance cost. Simply put, a light weight car is much easier to push with an engine/drivetrain from a Honda Civic than from a Suzuki motorcycle.

Atoms don't handle great on the stock tires. Plan to spend $4,000 on bigger rear wheels/tires, and upgraded rear uprights & wheel bearings, and it'll be on rails.

If your top priority is speed and you don't mind the maintenance, go for the Radical, or maybe a Stohr, or .....

va122

I'm a member of Spring Mountain in NV and that is the home of Radical west. They have a race series for the radicals and I share the track with them. They are incredibly fast, I've driven one and it is hands down the fastest thi8ng I've ever been in . The downforce is unreal and the g's you pull are incredible!

Things to consider, this is a race car bot a street car. Thus you will have maintenance that can be quite costly like engine rebuilds for example.

You mentioned that you're planning to bring it to a DE environment. A couple things to consider. They are fast, really fast. The closing speeds are very high and you will constantly be held up. They are rather dangerous because they are so low that they can't be seen in the mirrors of the street cars. There has been accidental contact.