Legendary for its sports-racer trackday cars, U.K. motorsports firm Radical has finally made a venture into the road-legal cars with the SR3 SL, unveiled today.
Power comes from a 2.0-liter Ford EcoBoost four-cylinder, rated at 247 horsepower--the same as the engine fitted in the upcoming Ford Focus ST. But Radical doesn't stop there--they add another 53 horsepower through a tune provided by Life Racing, bringing the total to 300 ponies. Torque sits at a brawny 340 pound-feet at 1,700 rpm. Those were V-8 numbers not that long ago.
The car also weighs a scant 1,485 pounds ready to run. That yields acceleration in the 3.0-second to 60 mph range and a top speed of about 165 mph. Shifting is a no-miss business thanks to six sequential cogs swapped with paddle shifters.
Despite the street-legal intentions, the SR3 SL still looks very much the low-flying racer. Based on the track-specific SR3, the SL uses the same core chassis with a more compliant suspension and wheels and tires designed for street use.
Priced from £67,750, the Radical SR3 SL isn't cheap by any stretch of the imagination, and it would likely be an exercise in extreme ascetism to attempt more than a moderate-length road trip in one, but we can't help but imagine what it'd be like to be one of the 30-50 buyers that will buy one each year.
Retail sales of the SR3 SL are expected to start in March.
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