Early model Radical ClubSport 1000 help needed pls...

[LotusVintageRacer]

I have a early SN (86) Radical ClubSport 1000 DSR and need help in setup and general learnings ....

1. Tire Types - do I need to stay with radial Dunlops or Avons or can I run biased ply race tires ( dry and wet ) from Hooiser or Dunlop?? Dangers or downside??

2. Tire sizes - car has 8" & 10"x 13 center lock wheels so what is the optimal tire sizing for DSR setup?

3. Suspension setup - does anyone have Spec's on the best setup for camber, toe, corner weight % and ride height?

4. Suspension adjustment - what is the process to set the front balance as only the rear suspension has a adjustable sway bar?

5. Does anyone have setup data / info for Road America (gears, aero, general setup) - I'm racing in the 2014 Hawk Vintage race this year and I've never raced there (I'm a west coast racer - LAGUNA SECA, Sears point ( or whatever it is today), Portland, Willow Springs)?

6. Is there a Radical Forum (US) for older radical car?

7. How do you access the fuel cell compartment ??

8. I looking for spare body and other parts ... Can someone send me a list of parts and prices??

I appreciate the support and help as I've set up Porsches, BMWs and Lotus's but not sports racers ...

Feel free to call me on my cell as well Two Zero 8 Nine 5 4 1267
Or private email me so I don't mess up this thread

Cheers - Glenn

[mikey]

google search "radical forum" and the top 3 show right up. there is also a dsr forum on yuku as well..

as far as RA, there are very long straights and a low downforce setup is probably going to suit you best in a race.

[Highroller101]

I have many of your same questions, but I can help you with the fuel cell

Fuel tank is located under the seat, remove the seat and the tank is enclosed there.

As far as suspension setup I can't help as I am trying to figure that out as well, I have ohlins coil overs so my findings won't help...

I am in a search for alignment bars as I'm told this is how you check toe on a weekend basis...

They do make a front sway bar but I'm not sure how much it helps.

I have Goodyear bias ply slicks that seem to work well, I believe they are blue streaks size 20x7x13 and 20x10.5x13

As far as aero goes, do you have the high downforce package?

I have a 02 prosport 1300 btw

[JakeL]

Hi Glenn -

I ran an early Prosport for quite some time with good success, here are my thoughts:

1. Tire Types - do I need to stay with radial Dunlops or Avons or can I run biased ply race tires ( dry and wet ) from Hooiser or Dunlop?? Dangers or downside??

Here in the USA, I would suggest Hoosiers Bias tires. They're easy to get, and work well on the car. There are two different upper control arms available, one type for radials, one type for bias plies. They are essentially identical except for their length, the bias version being longer so as to allow for the low (~1.5 degrees) of camber you want to run on them versus the radials, which want 3 or so. If you use radial uppers with bias tires, you may find the upper rod end for camber adjustment to have very little remaining thread, which is risky.

2. Tire sizes - car has 8" & 10"x 13 center lock wheels so what is the optimal tire sizing for DSR setup?

I found the car worked best with 20x7.5x13 front, and 22x9.0 rears, on 8" front and 10" rear wheels.

3. Suspension setup - does anyone have Spec's on the best setup for camber, toe, corner weight % and ride height?

Suggest 450# front, 700# rear springs. Approx 2.5" front ride height, and perhaps 2.75-3" rear. Measure front ride height under the pedal box, rear ride height at the rear roll hoop, on the metal chassis, not the sidepods or crush boxes.

Camber approx 1.5F, .5 rear. maybe 1/32 to 1/16 toe in per-side in the rear, and the same OUT in the front.

Car responds very well to rake, so adjust as you see fit. You won't want to go much below 400# in the front.

I often disconnected the front anti-roll bar since it was such a pain-in-the-butt.

4. Suspension adjustment - what is the process to set the front balance as only the rear suspension has a adjustable sway bar?

If the front ARB ("Nik Link") has an adjustable rod-end in it, use that to ensure no preload. If not, then you must adjust the pushrods to exactly the right length to ensure to preload of weights. If you have neither adjustable pushrods nor adjustable nik-link bar, then pull it off and throw it away, and just use the springs - the car works fine without the front bar.

6. Is there a Radical Forum (US) for older radical car?

It is not very active anymore, but you should find a LOT of info in the archives:

http://socalpeeps.yuku.com/

7. How do you access the fuel cell compartment ??

remove seat and remove the sheetmetal seatback, it's under there.

8. I looking for spare body and other parts ... Can someone send me a list of parts and prices??

Contact Radical West in Pahrump, NV.

Good luck, and have fun. Radicals are an absolute hoot to drive.

-Jake

[glenn cooper]

When I ran a Pro Sport in 2005 for a minute, the car came w/ Avon radials.
We put Hoosiers on it and tried to get the camber to bias ply #'s - about -1 degree.

The A arms did not have enough adjustment in them, and we had to run the weekend w way too much negative camber.

After that weekend I had them modified and put the car back together for the next race.

From the first session the car felt horrible. Oh sure the camber was now Hoosier friendly at 1.2 or whatever degrees neg, but the car was a wandering fool at speed, super scary.

I actually Q'd third, but in the process turned half my hair white!

Thankfully before the race, Dan Perez, chassis guy to Roger Cook, walks over, sees me struggling, looks down and says "Looks like you got the caster all screwed up - the lower arms were installed upside down!

Put it all right and that car was all good...

[motomoron]

I run Clubsport chassis #55 as the #51 P2 car in the WDCR SCCA. 2011 it was a DSR w/ a GSXR 1000, 2012/13 CSR w/ a K7 GSXR1300. All the setup advice above is about spot on - I'm still using 7 + 9 inch wheels, so the 20.5x7-13 A2500 Hoosier is my front of choice.

I bought Ben Beasley's set of body molds and am considering selling parts, but need to source a boat shop to do the work. I'll suffer for my own parts, but glass and resin work isn't how I want to spend my time. I also have the difuser mold, and will be pulling a mold off my carbon fiber crush box and splitter. The difusers and splitters I will be selling. Epoxy and vacuum bags are clean, indoors work.

After having a front upright fail at Summit Point in October and in consideration that a set from Radical is close to $3000, I'm designing uprights and control arms at the moment, and will be tooling up to make a couple sets for myself, and will make them available for sale in the future. The uprights will use a widely available wheel bearing, and to get around the 80's UK Ford Fiesta rotors I'm making hats and getting rotors from a supplier of semi-custom parts.

The Clubsport/Prosport, properly developed can be an excellent regional P2 car, and I wasn't far off the pace at the one Majors event I did last year. The key is to power w/ a 1340 hayabusa, get the restrictors just right, map carefully, and throw on a little lead to make the 1300# minimum.

[Phil Creighton]

Not to hijack this thread but I still have some bits for centerlock prosport wheels and some other parts like louvres etc from our Prosport days with Radical. Send me a PM or E mail and i'll go look in the storage warehouse. All cheap.....................
Phil