It's also got a boat anchor Pinto....er I mean YB slung out the front

Reliable trackday car - puts the Radical and other race stuff out of the running, also puts a highly strung homebrew Caterfield out, fine if you're happy to rebuild every winter, a lottery if you're not.

Lotus wins on handling (I prefer mid engined for outright speed), Caterham wins on fun. Atom is stupid fast in a straight line, but it's too rear-biased to be really quick round a track, it's hard to get the front to turn in neatly which makes for a messy lap.

Personally, I'd go for something like this http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3457742.htm if I wanted to be the fastest on track with no compromises, which I don't, I want to have fun, so, the 211 would probably win, but money no object, this http://www.vanwallcars.com/Vanwallcars/Home.html

 

radical has a 'for sale' section on their website - theres a few sub-30k.
I haven't a clue on maintenance, although being a turbo ford lump, I'd expect the engine side to fairly cheap. based of their new models, they run 210bhp so it's not like there's huge amounts of stress through it either.
ofcourse, if Dixon has one, then he's far more able to comment on work required.

 

Well it feels good and turn in is rediculous. I have some new dampers to order, so that should help. However, weight distributions and constructions are very similar (Unlike the Atom vs R400) so I can't see there being too much difference.

Mark - Boat anchor?!?! Yeah, the iron block adds 20kg to overall weight which is annoying. But this whole lightening business gets silly expensive An alloy pinto block is £3000 and an alloy type 9 case is £500.

Then on, you start to lose some of the value for very little gain.

 

Hayabusa engine though I think?

 

Mark, I agree on the fun factor. No point being fastest on a track day. The Superlight I had at Spa was the most fun i've had on track (bar basically a race session on the Ring GP in the Exige)

 

If there is anything people need to comprehend, it's this

 

Fast can be fun, for a while.

It still amuses me hanging off the back of road going 911 Turbos round Croft, then having that conversation when I tell them it's near enough a standard Clio lump. But ultimately trackdays in the Clio get a bit boring as you're constantly waiting to get by (and the Clio is at it's best in the bends, yet you can only overtake on the straights).

 

I had an interesting conversation with a 211 owner who told me that the aero could make the 211 tricky. Put simply, it might be very happy going round a corner at 80mph as the aero would work properly, but if you took it a little slower, you could find yourself in trouble as the aero grip was no longer there.

I'd choose a Caterham, simply because many parts are extremely cheap, and should something break at a trackday, there's likely to be someone there with a spare part, or knowledge of how to fix it. (Especially relevant on a Bookatrack day).

 

Ron - I wasn't doubting your numbers just the practicalities of running that sort of engine

Having raced on both I can confirm there is a huge difference between the yokos and the CR500s. The CR500s are much more fun, but also much slower.

Radicals run highly stressed hyabusa engines and are very, very expensive to run.

 

That's the downside with downforce

Slicks and wings cars require a whole new mindset to drive than anything most people are used to, I imagine the 211 is a milder version of that.