Radical smashes own ‘ring record

Now we are not going to become too involved in recording the breaking of lap records at Germany’s famous Nurburgring north circuit, that 22 kilometres of “Green Hell” that so fascinates car racers, but having reported recently on some record attempts we need to finish it off with this one.

Radical Sportscars has broken its own production car lap record at the Nordschleife circuit, yes believe it or not that car you see qualifies as a production car and you can buy it in Australia.

The benchmark was lowered by more than eight seconds to 6 minutes 48 seconds, and is widely regarded as the global benchmark for performance car prowess.

The record lap was set by Dutch sports car ace Michael Vergers, who was driving a road-registered 2009-spec Radical SR8LM on road-legal tyres.

Remarkably, the day before the lap record was set the car was driven to the circuit from the Radical factory in Britain, a distance of 800 kilometres.

“We’ve proved that the SR8LM is the world’s best track day car, while also being practical enough to drive to and from the circuit,” said Radical co-founder Mick Hyde.

“The SR8LM is the ultimate production sports car for customers whose primary aim is driving to, on, and from the racetrack.”

Radical has been setting lap records at the Nürburgring since 2003, when former British Touring Car Championship driver Phil Bennett completed a flying lap in 7min 19sec with an SR3 Turbo.

In 2005, Michael Vergers set a production car lap record of 6min 56sec in an SR8 Supersport, a time that had stood comfortably until now.

Mick Hyde says the extra speed of the 2009-spec car is the result of a “huge amount” of development and refinement to the SR8 model.

“The aerodynamics have been improved and now create more downforce for less drag,” he said.

“In addition, the engine produces more power and is now mounted to an in-house designed six-speed sequential transmission.”

Michael Vergers said the 2009 car felt clearly faster than the one he drove in 2005.

“The car was great and the extra downforce gave me the confidence to push harder over the circuit’s kerbs and bumps,” said Verger.

The record-breaking 2009-spec Radical SR8LM is now available for sale in Australia through the Classic Throttle Shop and can be bought for something around a mere $180-220,000, depending on which option boxes you tick.

www.classicthrottleshop.com.au