My new Radical in China...

[Pat Cash]

Hi All,

Based in Shanghai for the last 6 years, and just imported an SR1 to race in the 'Circuit Hero One' Championship over here.
I know, I know... Its not a proper Radical... But with 1340cc and throttlebody upgrade, dry sump, paddleshift and slicks, its already shown enough potential pace to be able to fight with the Ferrari 458 GT3 that is leading the field. What a mega little car!

Thought some of you might be interested in seeing some coverage from race 2 of last weekend's first round down in Zhuhai, in the South of China. (20,000 spectators and TV coverage for what is effectively a club race... only in China...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1KheZwgPCQ&sns...

Unfortunately with no shakedown or testing prior to the race meeting, we had a couple of small technical difficulties and lack of driver talent which didn't reflect the outright pace in the results - A connector failing on the gearbox ECU mean't a DNF in race 1 having qualified P2, and after starting 13th in race 2, a spin under braking whilst fighting for 3rd in the early laps meant I had to fight back from 15th to finish 5th.

The video doesn't tell much of the story, but some nice shots!

What is super interesting about the Championship is the variety of cars - everything from a 458 GT3 and a C63 AMG Touring car, to Evo's, Atoms, Caterham 500s and a couple of 2.3 Supercharged Ginettas...

Enjoy...!

Cheers.

[MrCippo]

oh how awesome, how are the costs of such a championship compared to UK standards if I may ask ?

[dtmpower]

Is there classes - or is it a free for all with touring cars, GT , prototypes all battling against each other ?

[Pat Cash]

MrCippo said:

oh how awesome, how are the costs of such a championship compared to UK standards if I may ask ?

Thats a good question... Things are quite different over here when it comes to racing - race cars (unless built in China) cannot be permanently imported so the car has to leave to Hong Kong/Macau every six months and re-enter. This costs a significant chunk of cash (around 1200GBP) each time, so just having the car in the country is expensive in itself. Also within this deal the car is Bonded to a particular location. In my case Zhuhai Circuit. So it is then difficult (impossible) to move it around, without it leaving and coming back in somewhere else. The alternative is to pay the tax locally on the car, which would be in the region of 75% or more. I guess at some point this would pay for itself, but only after 10 years or something... But then you are free to to as you wish.


Then you need somewhere to keep it which can cost again if you're unlucky. There is very little 'grass roots' motorsport over here, and people don't generally run cars themselves, and as most living is in apartment blocks often have limited storage, also towing trailers is illegal, so you'd need a flatbed truck etc to move the car around... So most cars live with and are prepped by teams. As is ours.

Which, on the open market I guess would cost around 6000-7500 GBP per year, including storage, race prep/trackday prep and some race support. However, labour itself is cheap. To pay 3 decent guys, one senior/two junior techs to run a car for the weekend would cost in the region of 250GBP for a weekend cash in hand. Try getting someone to work their ass off for 25GBP a day in the UK.

As China don't like importing stuff, everything that you need to get is a PITA... Parts, tyres, etc etc is difficult. Importation of parts from Radical is tough, if you can't hand carry it back during a trip to Europe. DHL etc is easiest as they handle importation but obviously need to pay import tax etc. which can be a bind (read expensive). There are sources for tyres etc and luckily the SR1 has 13" the same size as the Formula Renault teams here, so are available through the right channels, but again at a cost - maybe 1000GBP a set.

For other stuff:
Either source a local supplier of the component,
Or find a "channel" to get it into the country, without all of the red tape,
Or have it fabricated locally...

Race entries etc are in the region of 400GBP for a weekend - Practice, Qual, 2 Races...

So for me it was important to have a car that was fairly bulletproof, robust, simple and required minimal maintenance, but still could be competitive within the environment. The SR1, as far as bang for buck combined with the above goes, seems to be unbeatable. And our friends at the "Big R" were mega supportive of us getting this on the ground in China and helped us out massively with the whole project, to make it feasible. Thanks guys!!

dtmpower said:

Is there classes - or is it a free for all with touring cars, GT , prototypes all battling against each other ?

Really its almost run what you brung....

It is a championship for Production Saloon Cars/GT3 Spec Race Cars, in three main classes based on engine size(with a multiplier for Superchargers etc), and a GT class.

The SR1 doesn't REALLY fall into any class, particularly when you look at the engine size, it would destroy everything else. however does broadly comply to FIA Group CN Production Sports Car regs.

So I approached the race committee saying I wanted to bring one in and they were happy to support people that want to go racing and embrace the grass roots motorsport ideology, so they put the car into a new class which at the moment is called GT2. However, they're still trying to apply rules from saloon cars/GT cars that don't really work, so I have suggested that they use the Group CN regs for a Production Sports Car Class, which might happen in the future.

http://www.zic.com.cn/en/event_info.php?id=1199

Makes it quite fun though as the Radical doesn't have the grunt of some of the big cars or even the Evos, 2.3 SC Ginettas etc but of course is far better under braking etc. A lot of excitement. The only challenge I found is that you really need to make a solid pass under braking as once you're a long side them, the touring cars can't see you. So you really need to pick your moments. Also visibility of start lights/flags can be obscured when you're around the bigger cars, so you need to have your eyes open all the time.

With more running time, a bit of setup and confidence on my part, the car should get within a second of the 458 I reckon. Then it will be all to play for..

There are a handful of SR3s/8s floating around in China, that were imported and racing in a Radical Championship a few years ago.
Now the regulations allow, these guys now want to come play too, which could give us some more challenges

If anyone fancies a trip to China, there are a couple of companies that sell drives for a reasonable price - in the Ginettas for example.
Fly into Hong Kong, hop on a ferry and in 1hr & 10 mins you're in Zhuhai. Easy. PM me if you want more details and I can put you in touch!

Cheers.

Edit: Just for fun - a combination of three in-car video's from the final lap of race 2, put together by the driver of the Lotus Motorsport Elise. The Lotus, A TTX (2.3SC Ginetta) and the SR1 - all three of us being friends. I had been struggling with the brake balance all race and having already had one spin I was braking very early as not to lock up the rears. With the mirrors shaking themselves out of position during my spin, I was also unable to see much, so gave the Lotus plenty of room, knowing that I had the ultimate pace. But it was much fun!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzvdzGBC7BM&sns...

Edited by Pat Cash on Wednesday 2nd April 07:13

[BioBa]

Really enjoyed the videos and info!

[Pat Cash]

BioBa said:

Really enjoyed the videos and info!

Thanks guys for your interest! I'll keep you updated..

In December, there is also the Circuit Hero 500 Race as an addon to the series - a 3 hour endurance, with broadly the same cars/classes.

With a lot of luck and some reliability issues for other cars, my team mate and I managed to win it last December in the Lotus Motorsport Elise in the videos (which was yellow at that time). It was a classic case of solid laptimes, and just keep going round - had to nurse the car in the final stint with a broken clutch, but nothing that stopped us dead.

The Radical should be super competitive for an outright win, with decent, pace, reliability, and it MAY just be able to run two stints (mandatory 45 min driver change) without a refuel. It will be only a couple of litres here or there as to whether it can do it with the 44 litre tank. But fingers crossed...

Edited by Pat Cash on Thursday 3rd April 03:10

[Pat Cash]

A bit of a thread resurrection - but some photos from the weekend as I know a few people were interested, particularly in the ridiculousness of the various cars in the classes...) It was nice to finish ahead of an F430 in the little SR1...

[double d racing]

Brilliant write up...will watch the videos tonight.

Caption for 1st photo
"..........mmmmmmmmmmmmm..........now if those big lardy saloons cars would just ease apart a bit, I can sneak through and clear off into the distance....! "

regards
D D

[uk_vette]

Pat Cash said:

Hi All,

Based in Shanghai for the last 6 years, and just imported an SR1 to race in the 'Circuit Hero One' Championship over here.
I know, I know... Its not a proper Radical... But with 1340cc and throttlebody upgrade, dry sump, paddleshift and slicks, its already shown enough potential pace to be able to fight with the Ferrari 458 GT3 that is leading the field. What a mega little car!

Thought some of you might be interested in seeing some coverage from race 2 of last weekend's first round down in Zhuhai, in the South of China. (20,000 spectators and TV coverage for what is effectively a club race... only in China...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1KheZwgPCQ&sns...

Unfortunately with no shakedown or testing prior to the race meeting, we had a couple of small technical difficulties and lack of driver talent which didn't reflect the outright pace in the results - A connector failing on the gearbox ECU mean't a DNF in race 1 having qualified P2, and after starting 13th in race 2, a spin under braking whilst fighting for 3rd in the early laps meant I had to fight back from 15th to finish 5th.

The video doesn't tell much of the story, but some nice shots!

What is super interesting about the Championship is the variety of cars - everything from a 458 GT3 and a C63 AMG Touring car, to Evo's, Atoms, Caterham 500s and a couple of 2.3 Supercharged Ginettas...

Enjoy...!

Cheers.

The girls are absolutely stunning.

very pretty.

vette