On 21/22 October FastRoadAndTrack's Jim Greenfield, partnered by versitile racer Nigel Greensall, had the opportunity to race a Radical SR8 at the final round of the Radical Enduro championship at Brands Hatch. Recently the same car smashed the lap record at the legendary 13-mile Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit, becoming the first production car to lap the circuit in under seven minutes. Dutchman Michael Vergers piloted the SR8 around in 6m55s.
For both Greenfield and Greensall this was a new experience as neither had raced an SR8 before the event.
Qualifying on Friday was wet. It alternated between torrential rain for five minutes, then light rain for five during which the circuit drained slightly, before returning to torrential rain again. Greenfield took to the circuit first, gradually building the speed as he got used to the conditions. Of seven laps completed the best was a 51.8 in the heavy traffic and the poor conditions.
Greensall took over early as they were worried the session may be shortened due to incidents in the poor conditions. Again, heavy traffic kept lap times high in the 51 second bracket for fourteen laps, but eventually in the last four laps of the session the traffic cleared and Greensall reduced the best into the 50 second bracket, with a best of 50.041 on the second to last lap. That placed them second on the grid beside Austin Reynolds and Nick Padmore.
The race later in the day was dry. Greenfield didn’t get a great start having been caught out by the experienced Padmore. He was pushed wide at Paddock and Druids dropping him to fifth. A move on the Hogarth/Richards car regained fourth before Surtees. After that Greenfield settled into a comfortable fourth. By lap seven he was 0.8secs behind Nick Dove in third and 7.8 seconds ahead of Roger Green in fifth.
Then disaster struck. A back marker moved over to let Dove through, but moved straight back knocking Greenfield into a spin. As he struggled to restart the car and get moving the following three cars scattered either side of him stranded in the middle of the circuit.
He got going again in seventh, but pitted after one lap as the safety car came out. Greensall took over and spent eight laps behind the safety car. At the restart they were third behind Demetriou with Richards leading. After seven laps Greensall was up to second, and nine laps later the back marker who had caused Greenfield’s spin earlier, held up Richards and enabled Greensall to take advantage and snatch the lead.
Greensall gradually pulled out a comfortable lead until disaster struck and the throttle cable snapped on lap 43 of 45. Greensall coasted into the pits, with a final qualification of twelfth overall.
After the disappointment of race one, the pair were determined to make amends in race two. However, twelfth on the grid was going to make life difficult, especially the faster SR3s and the slower SR8s.
Greenfield started again, taking ninth by Paddock, seventh by Graham Hill. On the second lap sixth came by Paddock, and fifth by Paddock on lap three. A wayward spinner caused the safety car to be deployed on lap four, too early for the pit stop window even if they had wanted to stop. During the safety car period the pit window opened and one car pitted moving Greenfield to fourth.
At the restart Greenfield nearly took third at paddock, but a smart move by Nicholas kept him back. However, he put Nicholas under pressure at times only a tenth of a second behind, and keeping within 3 seconds of the lead. Nicholas pitted on lap 16, moving Greenfield to third.
Greenfield stayed out, keeping close touch with the leading pair with a best lap of 45.8, before pitting at exactly half distance on lap 25. Greensall rejoined in sixth, but with Padmore having already done three laps in the Reynolds/Padmore car, and charging hard only two and a half seconds behind. Both cars tore through the field, lapping back markers and moving up to second and third behind Demetriou.
After several laps in close formation Greensall made a brilliant move on Demetriou at Graham Hill taking the lead, but with Padmore following through hard on his heals. For the last fifteen laps Padmore kept Greensall honest, charging hard and never giving up the fight for the lead. However, as the clock ticked away Greensall pulled out a small advantage to win by three seconds at the line.
The drivers would like to express enormous thanks to Posetiv and Intechnology for their support, and to Radical for supplying the SR8. As a first outing in an SR8 for both drivers, one win, and nearly two was a fabulous way to end the season.