I am now running the Radical in iRacing. Why? Because the Mazdas are running at an oval, and after having spent three hours last night completing one race - only for a chap called Estaban to crash into me - I have resigned myself to the fact that I am a roadie, and the only thing going right this week is the Radical … and so here I am, losing 100s of points as I shunt and understeer my way from wall-to-wall, spin-to-spin, disaster to humiliation.
I don’t know why they called this thing the Radical: I think a better name for it would be the Humiliator or, better yet, the Humbler. I am not the slowest bastard ever to have run the Mazdas - at the tracks where I’ve had time to test, such as Jefferson, my times are not that far off the aliens - but this Radical thing humiliates and frustrates me in equal measure.
Having then seen the video of some hero breaking the all-time lap record at the Ring in this thing, though, I was convinced not to shelve the Radical and to stick to it: And that means, re-learning how to drive, basically. Where the Mazda likes to be treated like a Detroit CEO, the Radical is more akin to the CEO of Bank of America: No matter how much he is at fault, you will have to learn to adapt to his standards because, well, if you don’t, it will condemn you to pain, humiliation and a loss of your irating …
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So, how do you drive this thing? First thing is - make sure you know how to trail-brake because you’ll need the anchors to pitch the car into the turns. Second thing is - make sure to lift off the throttle as you enter the turn: And I mean lift off 100%. This is not the Mazda, and while I have zero idea how physics work, the thing is - if you hit the gas, this thing is going to push you right into the wall: So, if you enter the turn with the gas even slightly on, you will understeer as a consequence. Remember what I said about trail-braking? Right, so basically, you want to do so - but you also want to be off the gas at the apex of the turn: If you’re not, you will understeer off every time. Third thing is - the throttle: You don’t want to nail it, you want to ease it in. Unlike the Mazda, you see, this thing is up about 120BHP, and probably 400KGs heavier, and no traction control either. Getting into happy sloppy powerslides is possible - and effective too - but you had best be aiming pretty much where you want to end up because once you’re on the gas, you do not really want to lift as the thing will rotate and humiliate you in front of your friends.
As for the setup, this is 90-year-old gay-porn stuff: Soft at the front, hard at the rear, and your only job is to figure out how to dial the understeer out by: Increasing toe at the rear, stiffening the rear, and softening the front, before playing with the bumps (you will max them out front and back and go asking for more). Whatever you find setup wise, you will still need to re-learn how to drive if you’ve been throwing the Mazda around all year like I have …
Right, now it’s time to tame this beast … fascinating how different this car is from the Mazda, and how completely different it is from what I had expected: I believe this thing costs about 100K U.S., and I don’t know, based on this simulated version, I think I could find better rides for that money … on the other hand, that hero at the Ring makes this thing look really fun, I will let you know if I can simulate the hero of the Ring.
Tags: iRacing, Radical iRacing, Radical SR8, Sim-racing