Radical Coming Out of Nowhere!

[W.R.]

Sorry to copy the title, but the record is smashed.


Radical has once again beaten the Nurburgring Nordschleife lap record for a production car.

The tiny maker of diminutive sports cars from Peterborough drove a road-legal Radical SR8LM all the way from 'Blighty to the famous circuit in the Eiffel mountains, before last night posting a lap time of 6m 48s.

The new time beats the previous record - also set by Radical in a Supersport back in 2005 - by a not inconsiderable seven seconds.

Cloudless skies and warm temperatures meant perfect conditions for the Radical, although the SR8LM initially struggled with the Nordschleife's bumps vicous kerbs. But once driver Michael Vergers found the right set-up, the lap times started to come.



On course for the record"The car was great, I could push really hard and it felt clearly faster than the previous SR8 in 2005," said Vergers. "It's fantastic that we've beaten the record; hopefully I'll get an opportunity to return with Radical in the future."

Radical co-founder Mick Hyde said: "We've proved that the SR8LM is not only the world's best track day car, but it's also practical enough to drive to and from the circuit. It is a genuine production sports car, with genuine performance credentials, as we've shown today."


from Pistonheads

[clutch-monkey]

lol street legal... barely
what is the outright lap record at the nurburgring? preferably one set during an actual race?

[W.R.]

Originally Posted by clutch-monkey

lol street legal... barely
what is the outright lap record at the nurburgring? preferably one set during an actual race?

From pure memory, it's 6:27 set by Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956, during practice for the 1000km some time in the early-mid 80's

[clutch-monkey]

thanks.
pretty cool that 'road legal' cars that any chump can buy are slowly getting down to those sort of times. Putting most buyer's lack of talent aside, i mean.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by W.R.

From pure memory, it's 6:27 set by Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956, during practice for the 1000km some time in the early-mid 80's

what is it on exactly the same track as currently being used? Lengths have varied over the years.

[Kitdy]

Originally Posted by henk4

what is it on exactly the same track as currently being used? Lengths have varied over the years.

From my memory, it was a different configuration and I think it was 6:11.

Let's see Wiki...

Yeah, 6:11.13 in a qualifying, 6:25.91 in a race - both set by Stefan Bellof on the 20,832 metre variation.

Wiki lists this as the same as the Radical but this may be incorrect.

[G35COUPE]

Impressive little car. Making it street legal would be awesome.

[henk4]

Originally Posted by G35COUPE

Impressive little car. Making it street legal would be awesome.

It is, it came on its own wheels from the UK to the Ring.

[W.R.]

Originally Posted by Kitdy

From my memory, it was a different configuration and I think it was 6:11.

Let's see Wiki...

Yeah, 6:11.13 in a qualifying, 6:25.91 in a race - both set by Stefan Bellof on the 20,832 metre variation.

Wiki lists this as the same as the Radical but this may be incorrect.

Bugger, not often my memory fails me. I thought the Nordschleife was the Nordschliefe, unless work has been done since.

[PRC777]

Well I'll be damned.
Just to elaborate on what some people said on my last post, 'ring track times are a little unimpressive these days. One would like to thank Porsche, Nissan and Chevy with thier Corvette for telling consumers how amazing their cars are with what seems like 'ring episodes. I, for one, don't really care either as to who achieves the fastest lap time, but its always somewhat nice to hear imo different cars rather than the "known" ones (i.e Nissan GT-R, Corvette ZR-1, etc.). Honestly, I don't remember Gumpert ever trying to break the record in the past, which is why the post's title is aptly named so. Props to Radical for smashing Gumpert's record track time.

[Kitdy]

Originally Posted by PRC777

Props to Radical for smashing Gumpert's record track time.

Radical owned the record before Gumpert as I explained in your (the other) thread. Radical just improved on their time here.

[G35COUPE]

Originally Posted by henk4

It is, it came on its own wheels from the UK to the Ring.

When are we gonna start seeing shipment of this car to the USA? I am just to impressed with the car, especially given that they drove it from the factory witht he same set of wheels used in breaking the record at the ring. This is really impressive.


Radical SR8LM Set’s ‘True’ Nurburgring Record - GTSPIRIT.COM

[henk4]

Originally Posted by G35COUPE

When are we gonna start seeing shipment of this car to the USA? I am just to impressed with the car, especially given that they drove it from the factory witht he same set of wheels used in breaking the record at the ring. This is really impressive.

Road legal in the UK is a far cry from road legal in the USA. To get type approval over there might be a too steep mountain to climb

[G35COUPE]

Originally Posted by henk4

Road legal in the UK is a far cry from road legal in the USA. To get type approval over there might be a too steep mountain to climb

This brings tears to my eye.

[P4g4nite]

>>Radical
>>road legal production car

lol