Not sure if anyone would be interested in getting in at the last minute but the BMW CCA's Alabama Chapter has Barber rented this coming Memorial Day weekend (i.e. four days from now) and has a few spots left at a fantastic $350 for the weekend. The event is supposed to be for just BMW's but I think they'd sign off on other marques to fill the last few spots (five or so left from what I understand) as they're letting a friend and I bring our Radical's; they do have a restriction of no convertibles for street cars though due to BMW CCA rules. If you do track days or race, or if you've thought about it, Barber is one of the nicest tracks on the east coast and that price includes instructors for those in the novice groups; really can't beat that, decent on-track time is available and they are running shorter sessions with four run groups to ensure drivers don't get slowed down by those with less experience or end up with wasted session time by having them run longer than you can safely stay on track.

Sign up is at MotorsportReg.com : MotorsportReg.com > Online Registration for Driving Events but if you have a non-BMW, contact them first at Alabama BMW Car Club of America :: Home to see if it would be approved; like I said, two of us with Radicals are going now.

 

Great track! Somebody needs to jump on this.

 

I should mention, it's about 8.5 hours towing a trailer there, but if you were to drive a street car up it would be less, assuming you don't obey the posted speed limits.

Here's a video of me there back in March right after I bought the Radical, so I was still driving pretty slow: Radical SR3 @ Barber Motorsports Park - Google Video It gets better in the second half.

 

Those Radicals are getting popular. I wish I was in a position to get one. How are the motors holding up? I hear they are quite stressed.

 

LOL, you only hear that from Radical haters. But, they are not street cars, so yes you do want to get the engine rebuilt every 30 to 40 hours and that will cost you about $1900 and three weeks of downtime (one week to California, a week to rebuild, one week back; unless you air ship). You also should do a full nut and bolt check each track day just to make sure nothing is coming loose on the suspension or engine. I do it myself most days and then pay a pro to do it every few track days just to make sure I'm not missing anything; typically costs me $100. Other than that, just consumables and it's been rock solid. A friend broke a half shaft last time at Sebring; $600 including labor to repair and he was up and running before the next session since they're so easy to work on. If it had been a street car, he'd probably be towing it home and would have forfeited the rest of the day and the money he had paid for Sunday, so you have to factor that in too.

I look at it like this: My 1500 SR3 has the capability to do a 2:10 at Sebring and cost me $81k, that's six seconds slower than a Porsche GT3 RSR race car which will run you about $350k. You can get a lot of engine rebuilds for $270,000.

 

I hear you on the "hater" comment. That is why I figured I go directly to a source - you. 30-40 hours for a race engine is pretty standard.

I am going to stop talking to you now or else I will spend the whole day trying to figure out how to get one.

 

Only real downside to the Radical is there's only one competitive race series, the Radical Cup. It can run in DSR but it's not competitive because you have to use tires that are not as wide as the car was designed for. Although the Radical Cup is starting to get more and more participants; there were 12 cars competing at Barber in March and I hear there were more at Sebring this past weekend. There are four local Radical owners here now.