Radical International launches new Bushy Park season

Bushy Park Barbados will launch the new motor sport season on Saturday and Sunday, January 23 and 24, with an innovative new fixture, Radical International 2016. The St Philip facility will host drivers from the wider Caribbean and further afield as part of its on-going programme to promote the venue and the island as the hub of motor sport in the region.

Organised by Bushy Park Motor Sports Inc (BPMSI), the weekend will play host to the first two rounds of the Suzuki Challenge Series Winter Cup, with three races each for the Radical SR3s and Swift Sports on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning; Saturday’s programme will run from noon to 4.00pm, with Sunday’s action planned from 9.00 to 1.00pm. Newcomers are joining the entry list in both series, while demonstrations of other models from the Radical Sportscars range are also included in the programme.

BPCI Business Development & Marketing Manager Zoe Manning said: “We are really looking forward to welcoming some fresh faces to race at Bushy Park through this new initiative. We have drivers from Britain and the United States signed up and a container is on its way across the Atlantic to the Bridgetown Port.

“Working with our friends at Radical in the UK, we intend to grow this into an annual fixture, as it is ideally timed for Radical racers overseas to travel here with their cars before their own local season starts. This is very much a trial event, but the response has been encouraging, so we’re looking to build on this for the future.”

Suzuki Challenge Summer Series winners Sean Maloney (SR3 Cup) and Jamaica’s David Summerbell Jnr (Swift Cup) will each be hoping to kick off the second part of his campaign by reaching Winner’s Row. Following the six-round Summer Series, the Winter Cup is a shorter competition, with a third and final round scheduled for late February, after which the Winter Cup Champions will be declared, along with the overall winners of the inaugural Suzuki Challenge Series.

Since it was established in 1997 - the original Clubsport model was an immediate success - Radical has sold more than 1,900 cars, which are enjoyed by club racers and trackday enthusiasts the world over. The range of cars and power units has expanded steadily, more advanced models now a regular sight in the higher echelons of motor sport, including the Le Mans 24 Hours and other international endurance events on both sides of the Atlantic.

Radical’s most popular model is the SR3, as campaigned in the Suzuki Challenge Series at Bushy Park; the 1,000th chassis has recently been completed and is on display this week at the UK’s National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham on Radical’s stand at Autosport International (January 14-17), the annual show which brings together the world of motor sport under one roof, from Karting to Formula 1.

When Bushy Park Barbados hosted Race Of Champions 2014 last December, some of the local Radicals were used on the Saturday during ROC Caribbean, won by the Team Barbados pairing of Dane Skeete and Rhett Watson. This was a first involvement for Radical in ROC, which developed this year, when the factory was asked to build four of the latest specification RSX models for ROC 2015, which was staged in London’s Olympic Park in November. The cars featured in multiple heats throughout the weekend, as well as the first leg of the final, in which four-time F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel beat nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen to the title Champion of Champions.

One of these cars is being shipped to Barbados, along with the race cars for visiting British drivers; also in the shipment, for demonstration use, are a 1340cc Suzuki-engined Radical SR1 Cup car and an RXC V8 Coupé, powered by Radical’s in-house designed and manufactured RP-V8 series engine. In continuous development since 2004, with more than 300 manufactured to date, the RP unit’s many successes include powering a Radical SR8LM to the Nürburgring Nordschleife Production Car Lap Record in 2009 . . . breaking the previous record from 2005, set in a Radical SR8. Both still top the fastest laps table, ahead of more recently-established times from a Porsche 918 Spyder, Lamborghini Aventador LP and Nissan GT-R Nismo.

Based in the English Midlands city of Peterborough, roughly 100 miles north of London, Radical has a worldwide network of more than 20 distributors, including six in North America and spread as far afield as Australia, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

Radical International

Saturday, January 23, 12.00 - 4.00pm: viewing from Open Air Suites only, access through the Pits - $10. Sunday, January 24, 9.00am - 1.00pm (gates and ticket booths open at 8.30am): General Admission Bds $10; Clubhouse (food and drink on sale) Bds $15; children 12 and under are free; 4 x 4 Hammer Zone - vehicle pass Bds $12, plus $10 per person. Ticket available on-line at www.bushyparkbarbados.com/buy-tickets or from all Automotive Art locations, CS Pharmacy, Sol Redmans, Speightstown, Warrens & Wildey