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Words by David Lillywhite, for the Radical Magazine : Issue 2.
You probably don’t need us to tell you how crucial it is that your Radical’s engine and transmission stay in one piece. But how do you know when to have a powerplant or gearbox rebuilt? How can you be sure they’re going to be built to the right quality, or that the used Radical you’ve bought has an engine that’s all it’s claimed to be?
When you think that a typical race motor will be on load for at least 70 percent of its life, or consider the hammering the transmissions receive, it soon becomes even more obvious that the build quality and traceability is crucial
To find out more, we talked to the engines team at the Peterborough factory. We rebuild the vast majority of engine variants including, the 1340cc and 1500cc superbike derived engines, our own V8 range, the 2.3 four-cylinder turbo, and the 3.5 V6 bi-turbo – each one hand-built by Radical Performance Engines (RPE) when new.
Surprisingly, the first thing that stands out is the paper trial on every engine rebuild, from the simple booking-in and out of each job to Radical’s unique ability to access all the ECU data from every powerplant it has built. That paperwork and data remain with Radical so that, even if a car is sold, the company will be able to share the car’s provenance with the new owner.
The exciting bit of this is to see the engines being rebuilt, in this case in the hands of Ash, one of eight such specialists at Radical. First, he whips out the paperwork, which shows the history of the engine, right down to when individual components have been replaced – and when they’ll next be due for swapping out.
Why’s this such a big deal? Because without that information, a conscientious engine builder would have little choice but to replace many more parts than might be needed, racking up a higher-than-necessary bill. Radical have recommended engine refresh intervals for all their engines ranging from 40 to 80 hours, but many of the components within them have a lifetime of over 100 hours.
Some parts are assessed on appearance or measurable wear, but it takes experience of these units to know what’s acceptable and what’s not. Conrod bolts will be measured for stretch, yet bearings will be replaced regardless. Crankcases will be visually inspected for cracks, but pistons will be crack-tested using NDT die penetration, as long as they have already been found to be in acceptable condition and within wear limits. If the ECU data shows over-revving, that will dictate the replacement of other parts.
Clutch-stack height will be measured, but the appearance of the plates will also be looked at; a serviceable clutch with many hours left in it will be rebuilt rather than replaced. These are just a few examples of the many checks that are made.
When brand new, RPE engines are built to the highest of motorsport specification using components from the industry’s leading suppliers. The engines are always rebuilt with the correct parts to maintain the original build integrity and specification of the engine.
It’s fascinating, too, to hear Ash’s opinion- which is later backed up by veteran Radical engineer Neil – as to what causes engines to wear prematurely or fail in the first place. “Temperature management”, they both answer, without hesitation. ‘It’s a big thing,” says Ash. “There are minimum coolant and oil temperatures an engine should reach before you take it out on track”.
Ensuring an engine reaches that temperature, and maintains it in cold conditions, can be difficult, especially under a safety car. Neil recommends the use of a pre-heater pad on the side of the oil tank in the hour before start-up, and to run the engine for long enough that coolant reaches operating temperature. And should the worst happen? RPE keeps a stock of fully rebuilt engines.
Once your engine has been rebuilt, it will be tested in the RPE dynocell and then in the car, with the option of a rolling-road test at the factory as well. And then the paperwork will be updated, of course, and you’ll be back on track as quickly as possible.