ShakeNBake

Considering something like this. I'm interest in learning about running costs, maintenance experiences, reliability, and overall fun of ownership and driving. I've not looking for something brutal fast, looking for more of a racecar feeling and experience with high downforce. Wolf is local to me here in Austin, but they look like potentially out of business. Please PM me if you prefer. Cheers

johneecatt

I'd like to know this as well...

ProCoach

Sports racers are AWESOME!

race911

Everyone should experience one. Never want to go back to a production car after a sports racer or formula car. But sometimes you do.

My SR3 has been "apart for maintenance" for 4 years now. Oh well. It's good enough for us mere amateurs to get a feel. Mine is (was?) reliable to the point of my only failures being an ignition control when new, and an axle breaking while braking over a bumpy off line Buttonwillow. Chassis probably has 110-120 hours on it before I parked it. Fresh tires are always nice. Other consumables weren't bank breakers.

Probably best to rent some time in one. I fancied that I was something special in my 20's back in the mid-'80s, so I got to work on and dabble with Formula Ford and even some Atlantics. So my comfort level, such as it is, was already there.

mpaton

If only you knew someone near you who had one.

924RACR

Sports racers/prototypes definitely take it up a notch.

Coochas

I do not have first hand experience but I see a ton of Radicals at MMC. They are VERY quick cars even at the entry level. I get the sense that they require a decent amount of upkeep and I've seen them either not run or get towed a fair amount. Again, I do not own one nor do I know how well the ones I see are maintained.

If you don't need fenders, I vote heavily for Formula Mazda. Very quick and make you feel like an F1 driver. Mine has done very well on the reliability side but you do need to maintain the gear box once a year if you drive a lot (which I do, like a gerbil on a wheel). Cars like Peter Krause's S2000 are also on the short list and I could see getting one to replace Irene's Atom some day. The FM and S2000 are more primitive versus a Radical in terms of suspension and gearbox (Radicals have rev matching pneumatic whereas others have dog box).

A guy I know found his basically unused fairly new SR3 at a Lambo dealer where the car was sent as part of a trade. He bought it for 30K which is ridiculously low. Maybe you can find a similar situation!

Maciej

PM sent.

ShakeNBake

I wonder.....

Matt Romanowski

Almost all race cars similar to a Radical take about the same maintenance. In my experience, the budget for hourly running costs is about the same too. Whether you are talking about a Radical, S2000, FC, FM, etc, they cost about the same when having someone else support them. FA are more than the others to run.

As far as fun - a Radical is great. Racing? They aren't really competitive in SCCA versus the other P1 and P2 cars, most of which are part homebrew and heavily developed.

Rick

I have two Radicals currently (2004 and 2007) ...The Radicals area an absolute blast...very fast and yet quite easy to drive. To be clear - it's a race car and has a dramatically different feel than a converted street car. I love it but I've had several friends drive my car & two of them much prefer their Cayman/911-based race cars. I find them both easy to maintain and tune to optimize track handling & performance. It takes only 2-3minutes to have both the front & rear body sections off & everything is "right in front of you" - easy to work on and they're not overly complicated cars.
Their handling is predictable and there are obvious indicators when you get close to the edge. Both mechanical grip & aero can be tuned extensively which is a fun process. You indicated you're looking for high downforce...given the variety of options on the market today, I'd call the Radical medium/high...there are measurably higher downforce cars available (ie. Wolf, Stohr/West, Noble) if you're looking for highest downforce. I
Parts are reasonably priced (especially compared to P cars) and consumables like rotors & pads seem to last forever. Some items are available in the open retail market & others only from Radical. I've not yet encountered any parts availability issues.
Tires last quite long as well. I'd attribute this mainly to the lightness of the car. I've run Dunlop & 2 different Hoosier compounds - the softer Hoosier has the highest grip and lowest life in regards to performance...the Dunlop is in the middle and the harder Hoosier takes more laps to get to optimal grip & lasts much longer (both in regards to races/track sessions and number of heat cycles).
Engines will last somewhere between 40-80 hours. My boys & I put 47 & 68 hours on the two cars last year. We refreshed the engines this winter (I did the 1300 myself for about $2200 in parts) and I had the 1500 done for me and it cost about $6200.
I'm happy to answer any questions...I can guarantee you, you'll have a huge smile on your face after driving a Radical on track.
Cheers,
Rick

jbossolo

I'll agree with all accounts here (2002 SR3). I've driven my SR3 back-to-back with my 02' 996TT X50 (Motons, GT3 suspension bits, GT2 clutch, Pagids, Girodiscs, UMW flash, etc). The Rad made the TT feel "soft", only car to ever do so.
BTW, just sold mine to my cousin, for $25K, with a LONG list of spares.
Family, what can you do?

biko

I just bought a slightly used Caterham SP300R. Really amazing race car. I've driven one full test day and working myself up to its grip limits. And that was on hard compound tires. So much faster than GT based cars. The Formula Mazdas are much faster still. The mechanicals look straightforward to maintain and like Radicals etc, are so easily accessible. Mechanicals are readily available from suppliers. Lots of development potential in this car.

ShakeNBake

A couple folks have recommended the SP300 over a wolf due to the lack of support and parts in the US for wolf.

winders

What kind of times does that thing turn at Sears Point?