Jamie Donaldson may be best known as a professional golfer, but he also has a keen interest motorsports. Last year he bought a Radical SR8 RX – a V8-powered car to use on track days and asked Axalta, the coatings manufacturer behind the Cromax, Standox and Spies Hecker brands, for help  with its restoration.

The car arrived at the Axalta Refinish Academy in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, in January 2016. Kevin Welling, Training Academy Manager for Axalta Coating Systems says, “The Radical SR8 RX arrived in a few pieces, and we quickly realised that some of the body panels were quite badly damaged. Our first priority was to carry out the necessary repairs.”

Once the structural repairs had completed, the Cromax team applied a Cromax surfacer and sanded it down. Next was the new Cromax Non-Sanding Primer Surfacer NS2607, which eliminates the need for a two-stage build up and has a fast recoat time.

Originally the car was a bright red colour, but Donaldson had a very clear idea for a striking matt black and orange design. In order for him to choose the perfect colour scheme, he was sent various colour options on spray-out cards. He chose Flat Black for the main body of the car and Orange Pantone 1665C for the Radical logo and the ‘V’ on the on the nose cone, and as an accent colour on the mirrors, the rear spoiler and the end plates.

“This job really proved that you always have to pick the right products for each job – and not just use what you always do. Cromax has a recently-launched, fantastic low energy clearcoat based on a new, patented resin technology called Ultra Performance Energy Clear CC6700. We would have loved to have used it, but ironically for a sportscar it was simply too fast. When you’re working with matt effect you need something a little slower, so we used Cromax Standard VOC Clear CC6400, which gave the perfect effect. Sometimes fast is just too fast,” says Welling.

Once all the panels were finished, they were sent to Radical’s headquarters in Peterborough where the car was re-assembled. It was then transported back to the Axalta Refinish Academy for the finishing touches to be added.

Donaldson says, “Having seen how the car started out, I really have to take my hat off to the Cromax team. They have really created a gorgeous-looking sports car that has exceeded my expectations. I can’t wait to get it on the track and see if its performance can match its looks.”