Vandal One Track Car: Price/Performance Winner?

The impact of Radical Sportscars, Ltd on the track day world continues with the introduction of the Vandal One. Radical, as you almost certainly know has spent the last two decades pioneering high-performance sports racers, which in the US are limited to HPDE and racing use (in some parts of Europe they are street legal). If you want a dedicated track car, Radicals are much more racey-looking than, say, street-legal sports cars like the 911 or M4. And can often do faster lap times. You can also race a car like the Radical SR3, whereas a street-legal Porsche can’t be raced.

Several companies have taken a swing at the market Radical pioneered. Caterham had the Lola-designed SP/300.R, for example. And cars like the Aerial Atom and Fury, while different in technical features, are fast track day cars with racing options.

The latest company to enter this market is Vandal, a US-based (Pontiac, MI) company with some apparently serious engineering chops. Their first car is the Vandal One. The One is in the Radical SR3 price range (starting at $119,000) but with the intent of greater sophistication. The car weighs 1220 lb, thanks to carbon construction, but can be configured with up to 560hp. The base car uses a Civic Type R engine (340 hp). That should give it a big power:weight advantage over the Hayabusa-based Radical SR3.

Vandal also claims significant aero work was done on the One, leading to as much as 1750 lb of downforce and cornering as high as 3G. Our colleagues at Winding Road Racing work regularly with Elan DP02 IMSA Lites cars, which have highly developed aero, but less power and more weight than the Vandal and they are substantially faster than most Radicals with an experienced driver. In fact, DP02s can do IMSA GTLM lap times. If the Vandal can offer even more performance than a DP02, it is likely to be the fastest track car you see on a weekend, barring a Corse Cliente Ferrari F1 owner showing up.

For more information: https://www.vandalcars.com