Evo Magazine - "Trackday Car of the Year 2003"

Fifteen cars, one bike, six drivers, one rider, three photographers and one 1.7-mile twisting loop of tarmac. This, then, is Trackday Car of the Year 2003, the fourth running of the original and definitive test of the latest trackday machinery, and once again it all came together over two days in early summer at the Bedford Autodrome.

THE TRACK-ALIKES
Radical Tracksport vs AS One vs D-type

We say it time and again, but TCOTY isn't just about lap times, for the simple reason that trackdays aren't about lap times. Enjoyment is the key, which is why Caterhams always score so highly but for some people the chance to arrive and drive in something that isn't Seven-shaped is also a high priority. The Radical SR3-LM Tracksport, AS One and Revival Motorsport D-type epitomise that ethos better than any just about anything.

Modelled on Jaguar's legendary Le Mans winner, the Revival D-type is a breath of fresh air in the pitlane. To be honest, we didn't really know what to expect from this novel one-make racer/road car/trackday weapon, but the sight of that long bonnet and the crisp bellow of Jaguar's straight-six create a stirring first impression.

Swing open the tiny cutaway door and you feel like donning a bow tie and a stout cardigan. Mike Hawthorn-style, rather than a Nomex suit. The large wood-rim wheel and plumply padded leather seat are a million miles from the skeletal concoctions of carbon and alloy we've become so used to, and so too is the driving experience.

The steering is incredibly heavy. For the first lap of so you have serious doubts about getting around the hairpin, let alone summoning the strength to apply any corrective lock. Persevere though and the D-type comes alive. That big Jag six-cylinder lugs enthusiastically, and with more than enough vigour to trouble the sticky Dunlop Formula Rs. And that's the key to having fun in the D. Steer with the power as much as the wheel and it begins to flow more freely. You still need a good purchase on the wheel (sit close and push the wheel with arms and shoulders) but once drifting it remains forgiving and well balanced. The gearshift is peachy and the brakes are also excellent, with decent feel and tireless stopping power. The engine doesn't like to rev much beyond 5000rpm, sounding strained and feeling rough if you stretch it too far, but a lap time of 79.20 puts right up there with Porsche's 911 Turbo and Noble's M12. What a laugh!

Contrasts come no greater than climbing out of the D-type and into the road-spec Radical. Backside just inches from the tarmac, tiny engine behind your shoulders, sequential gearshift and large rear wing all promise a totally 21st century experience. Far from having to heft the Radical around, you drive it with your fingertips, minimal inputs having the desired effect. The speed with which it reacts to any steering or throttle input is astonishing. Each gear seems to last a few scant seconds, chicanes are jinked and parried with disdain. However, it's the spectacular chuckability of the road-going Radical that makes the biggest impression. Far from being a twitchy, curmudgeonly beast, it's quite happy for you to take the most astonishing liberties with it. Consequently you feel far more involved far earlier in the Radical's ability curve than you'd ever expect. What's more this raw hooligan appeal doesn't come at the expense of speed, as a time of 72.1sec proves.

Then we have the AS One. Don't be fooled by the roofless, bike-engined formula. This isn't another Radical. Proper seats and good all-round visibility aren't what you'd call trackday essentials, but when you haul yourself out of the Radical and hop effortlessly into the AS One, it's clear the German car is a much more convincing attempt at building a bike-engined trackday car you'd also want to drive on the road.

The build quality is terrific, as you'd expect from something that has full TUV approval, and the attention to detail is truly impressive. Power is from the trusty Suzuki Hayabusa, in this instance tuned to 230bhp or so and, as you'd expect, delivers savage acceleration. Unique to TCOTY, the AS One has an electronically-actuated paddle-shift gearbox, rather than the more usual lever-operated sequential 'boxes found in Radicals. The result is an even more focussed experience, delicate finger-flips replacing wristy forearm jabs.

Exiting the slower corners, you can kick the tail out nicely, and hold it there, thanks to the ample power and forgiving low-speed balance. Through the high-speed corners the AS One reveals a more edgy nature, with plenty of lift-off and turn-in oversteer, a trait that is undoubtedly amplified by Bedford Autodrome's completely flat, camber-free corners, and the fact that the guys from Automotive Solutions had never visited the circuit before.

Once sliding, though, the AS One remains holdable, and you can keep it under control at the kind of angles that would see most cars scudding across the infield. We worked on some chassis adjustments that began to make it more entertaining and less of a handful, but time pressures meant we couldn't spend too long tinkering.

We're certain there's plenty of time to come from the car, thanks to the fully adjustable suspension, and that even with a less than ideal set-up for Bedford it was brilliant fun and very quick, an eventual best of 76.55sec placing it 5th in the time rankings. That it's also a genuinely useable weekend road car makes the AS One a truly desirable package. RM

SR3: 'Softer, less grippy and slower than the JP1 and track-biased SR3 - and all the better for it' - JBov.

'Feels like a proper race but there's feedback to tell you how hard you're pushing' - JB.
'Looks the part, does the business. Nuff said' - RG.
AS ONE: 'A serious trackday tool you can use on the road without looking like you've got lost on the way to the grid' - JB.

'Could well be the closests to a racecar experience in a useable road car' - SH.
D-TYPE: 'Heavy steering, soft suspension, solid brake pedal and a man's gearbox - thrilling and challenging' - SH.

'Retro feel without the hassle of running a classic. Shame it has such weighty steering - you'd be knackered by lunchtime' - RG.

THE PURE SPORTS
JP1 vs Radical SR3 Supersport

So here they are. The quickest, craziest pair of full-on trackday cars a substantial pile of money can buy. In the red corner, Radical's familiar and constantly improving SR3 Supersport: 250bhp's work of super-tuned Hayabusa-powered screamer. In the green, white and red corner, Palmersport's ground-skimming Jaguar JP1: 280bhp's worth of knee-trembling Le Mans-lookalike with soundtrack to match. They are pukka pieces of equipment that demand major respect, no matter what your level of experience.

There's a palpable air of tension and anticipation as each car is readied for its timed laps. I opt for the Radical first, for the simple reason that I've just stepped from its little brother. You sit incredibly low, your nose barely level with the nominal wind deflector, hands gripping the steering wheel tight. Flick the ignition and fuel pump toggles, nudge the starter button and wait for the 1500cc Suzuki Hayabusa motor to rumble into life.

Push the sequential gearlever forward, wait for the kerchunk as first is engaged, hold a steady 2000-3000rpm and feed the clutch in steadily before chuntering off. Deep breath, pull back for second, then pin the throttle wide open. J-e-e-z this thing's punchy. Not savage, all-or-nothing, top-end terror, but strong, needle-sharp, zero-inertia acceleration. Pull third, almost without thinking, then blam, fourth jabbing the brakes at the hairpin looms. And this is just the out lap!

A flying lap in the SR3 is an edgy, intoxicating experience. The speed, noise and intensity are head-scrambling, the immense braking ability disorientating. Any previous benchmark for late braking is blown to smithereens; such is the enhanced grip provided by the more aggressive aero set-up and race-spec Dunlop slicks. The Palmer curves, easily flat in the 'road-spec' SR3, are j-u-s-t flat in the Supersport, speed building massively as you keep the throttle pinned through third, fourth and fifth, lateral g-forces and bhp fighting against the grip. The big surprise is that you can really drive the thing rather than simply react to it, the car encouraging you to push rather than punishing you for pushing.

Through the fastest corners - O'Rouge and Tower - you have to push yourself to uncomfortable degrees to transfer your foot from middle to right-hand pedal without hesitation, in order to maximise the Radical's corner speed. Courage pays time dividends, but it always feels like the chassis has a deeper well of talent to draw upon than you have bravery. Six laps and my reserves of concentration, nerve and adrenaline are exhausted, a best lap of 68.20sec recorded. Do you really need to go faster than this?

Yes, according to Jonathan Palmer and his development team. And, according to our test gear, if you're in JP1 you can, by just over half a second. What's amazing is that the JP1 feels even faster than the V-Box suggests. There's more buffeting at high speed, more weight and loading through the steering, more mid-range acceleration, and more grip from its Avon slicks. It's a truly mighty experience. It, too, can be made to dance, but it's more steadfast and earnest in its delivery than the Radical, more single-minded in its pursuit of the perfect lap. It's a racer's trackday car. An ex-F1 racer's at that.

The closest thing I can liken to going for a time in the JP1 is like looking over the edge of a very tall building: you're scared but you can't help creeping that little big closer to the abyss just to feel your stomach knot and your head go fizzy. It's the fastest and most impressive trackday car we've ever experienced. But the most entertaining, most exploitable and most endearing? You'll just have to turn the page to find out. RM

JP1: 'This will make some very rich people very happy' - JBov.

'Palmer describes this as a mini Le Mans car. After half a dozen laps I'm not arguing' - RG.

SR3: 'If I wanted the ultimate trackday car, then there'd be no greater thrill than the cornering speeds this car produces' - SH.

'It takes serious bottle to scratch the surface of the handling limits through corners such as O'Rouge and Tower' - RG.

'So much easier to drive and feel what's going on than the car we had last year' - JB.

2003 TRACKDAY CAR OF THE YEAR

'We wanted a car that gives an adrenaline rush without an excess of fear, one that's rewarding and challenging in equal measure'

THE VERDICT

Deciding on a winner is easy. The judging panel drive the cars for two days, choose a personal favourite, then sit down over a beer, hold a short discussion, job done. Right? Er, no. It took us over a week to work it all out. So close were the top two cars that we almost had them jointly on the top step of the podium.

Road cars are by their very nature compromised in a track environment. In their natural habitats the best ones feel involving, fast, firm, fluid and nailed, but on a hot, flat, camberless race track, all that impressive composure disappears. Here, against specialised opposition, the Clio, Impreza and even the 911 felt soft and vague. John Barker described the Porsche as 'a fuzzy car with all inputs damped, muted and filtered'. This, don't forget, was our Car of the Year winner from 2000, uprated with a power pack to deliver 450bhp. As we said in the intro, there are better Porsches for circuit work, but it makes you wonder quite why you see so many Turbos on trackdays.

The Clio Cup does a good job (better, in fact, than the Impreza) with what it has; a gutsy engine and reasonable agility. It's an honest hard-worker but ultimately the dynamics restrict the fun. In damp, cold conditions we might have enjoyed the Impreza, but here it felt reticent to play ball. Unresponsive and reluctant to entertain, it quickly ran out of brakes, tyres and drivers wanting another go.

The car that received most mixed reviews was the Revival Motorsport D-type. Take the two Johns for instance: Hayman loved the view down the bonnet, the engine and the classic feel, while Barker said that if his Capri (same weight, power and tyre size) turns out like this he'd sell it. He just couldn't get comfortable with the Rev D and we all felt it would have been more fun with less grip. None of us felt comfortable with the heavy steering or the hefty £40K price tag. Still, it's faster than a 911 Turbo.

The Blink Motorsport Elise looked good on paper; shame it wasn't so good on tarmac. The concept is spot-on and the data trace shows just how quick it was on the straights. The potential was there for all to see and if the donor car had been a fresh S2, we could have had a real contender. A missed opportunity, then. Our other Honda runner, Ariel, does have a good car in the Atom, but despite several years trying to crack this competition, its ultimate potential still hasn't been fully exploited. We reckon more feel may be found by using tyres with greater flexibility in the sidewalls (such as the 15in Avon CR500s used on many Caterhams) and the test car needed corner-weighting to cure the braking problem.

The lap timer had both the Atom and Blink Elise ahead of the VX220 Turbo, but we rate the Vauxhall higher. It gives a more delicate interface with the track, and it's light to drive, easy to drift. A good occasional trackday tool, it's still biased towards road use (where it's superb) which means it's a bit softer than we'd ideally like. The engine is anodyne, JB likening it to 'driving in an anechoic chamber', and we have serious misgiving about the brakes, which when hot confuse the ABS system, causing it to cut in instantly, thus increasing your braking distance.

Down to the final eight, a deeply impressive bunch. Take your pick for the following and we guarantee you won't be disappointed.

The Noble is fearsomely rapid and has a chassis able to exploit all that power. The whole package gels so well, and as our professional racer, Simon Harrison, explains in technical racing jargon, 'it's ideal for the big skids' (or, as we prefer to call them corner-entry-to-exit, full opposite-lock power-slides).

As we reported last month, we prefer the VXT as a road tool over the Lotus Elise 135R, but then that's because the 135R chassis has been personalised for the trackday junkie. And boy does it show. You can really attack corners, braking deep into them, exploiting the grip, balance, adjustability and feel. It's one of the best Elises we've driven on track and could easily cope with more power.

Power is something the AS One has aplenty, together with superb build and meticulous attention to detail. If you've ever considered a well-sorted, high-powered Elise as your trackday weapon of choice, then think laterally and the AS could just be the One you're after.

Next, and slightly out of the original sequence, come the big boys, the mighty Palmer Jaguar JP1 and the astonishing Radical SR3 Supersport, the maddest, baddest trackday machines of all. Wildly intense, they require courage and a lightly trafficked circuit to get the best from them. They're physical, demanding and challenge your personal limits, rewarding with an adrenaline buzz nothing else can match. If we were limited ourselves to trackdays we'd probably pick the JP1, but we suspect most buy the SR3 with the intention of using trackdays to get into the groove before going racing.

For us these big guns are knobbled by a pea-shooter, the Caterham Academy Seven. It may have posted the third slowest time of the day and been a massive 16.7 seconds slower than the JP1, but you're going to have at least as much of a blast in one of these and at a third of the cost. We unanimously loved this unassuming Seven; the power matches the grip on offer and the balance provides the mix of adjustability that only a low-weight, front-engined, rear-wheel drive car can. In all honesty you don't need anything more than this, but that doesn't mean you don't want more. Thus we come to the final two cars.

The Caterham R400 supplies all the same experiences as the Academy but with greater intensity, while the Radical SR3-LM Tracksport provides all the same experiences as the Supersport, only less intensely. Together they meet in a common ground where the demands of on-track usability, entertainment and driver-fulfilment are equally satisfied despite their very different starting points.

The R400 is property fast and is endowed with that intimate playfulness that has always helped Caterhams score so highly. Meaden describes it as 'absolute magic', Harrison calls it 'a top machine', while Green reckons it's 'the pick of the Seven bunch'. There's no denying it: this is a truly great trackday car.

But by the narrowest of margins it doesn't win. We wanted a car that gives an adrenaline fix without an excess of fear. We wanted a car that is rewarding and challenging in equal measure and we wanted something hugely satisfying to own. That car is the Radical SR3-LM Tracksport. On the tricky demands of Bedford Autodrome's West circuit it was nothing short of awesome. It is our 2003 Trackday Car of the Year.

LAP TIMES

Jaguar Palmer JP1	67.70sec
Radical SR3 Supersport	68.20sec
Radical SR3-LM Tracksport	72.10sec
Caterham R400	75.20sec
AS One	76.55sec
Honda CBR600RR	76.70sec
Noble M12 GTO 3	78.50sec
Blink Motorsport Elise	78.50sec
Ariel Atom R	78.90sec
Revival Motorsport D-Type	79.20sec
Porsche 911 Turbo (450bhp pack)	79.50sec
Lotus Elise 135R	81.30sec
Vauxhall VX220 Turbo	81.50sec
Caterham Academy	82.00sec
Subaru Impreza STi PPP	82.80sec
Renault Clio Cup	86.95sec