Radical SR1 XXR

Radical's entry-level racing car has been re-released in enhanced XXR guise. We find out just how good it is in the most revealing way - by racing it

- JAMES TAYLOR

WHAT'S THE BEST CAR YOU'VE EVER W driven? It's the question every automotive journalist gets asked the most. I've never come up with a good answer: like everything in life, it's all relative. But the most fun car I've ever driven, that one's easy. In 2016 I raced a season in a Radical SR1, the Peterborough track car company's entry-level racing car. It felt as if it spliced the genes of a kart with a three-quarter-scale prototype racer. I've never experienced another car so immediate, so controllable and so thrilling.

That was the original SR1, launched in 2012. It was comprehensively updated in 2017 and now this is its third generation, the Radical SRI XXR, introduced halfway through 2023 with fresh electronics, revised aerodynamics (including an LMP-style central dorsal fin) and the fifth generation of Radical's 1340cc engine. As before, it's based on Suzuki's Hayabusa motorcycle engine but rebuilt by Radical's RPE engine division. Compared with the older SRI's unit, the Gen 5 engine is designed to last longer (with 80 hours between rebuilds) and features a new engine management system, drive-bywire electronics and revised cooling.

To my eyes it's a more attractive car than before. The original SR1 was adapted from the Radical SR4 released in the mid-noughties, with styling inspired by the Bentley Speed 8 Le Mans car. The redesigned bodywork is more contemporary in style and looks great in this car's Porsche 917 Can Am-aping livery. It's still tiny, less than 3.9m long and just over 1m high.