Ariel Atom - Opinions needed

[elise/europa]

I just saw one on the track during a lapping day. The guy was faster than me by quite a lot, and I am a fast driver. In fact, the Ariel was the fastest car that day, the second and third was a Porsche 911 GT3 (with a really good driver) and myself with my Elise (close the same time that the GT3).

All other cars were slower a lot, including many other 911 GT3, highly powerfull Seven replica, many M3, a lot of Viper.

For me, my souvenir is an Ariel can be very fast, faster than my car.

[jturrell]

One question to ask yourself when considering these cars is "how much money do I want to spend on new body parts?".

A very minor off-road excursion in a Radical, West, Stohr (and probably a 211) can result in the purchase of many thousands of dollars worth of parts. Aero-cars are fun, but there's a price for downforce.

My Caterham fund is slowly growing, but I'd consider an Atom too. Low ground-clearance race cars do not suit my driving skillset or fiscal conservatism.

[ads_green]

The 211 isn't as bad as it doesn't use as larger clamshells as the elise/exige. The manual even leads on to say that it's expected to have panels replaced and as such they are much quicker and easier to remove than normal.

That being said if you bend the chassis then instance write off. It's one reason it's taken so long for a lotus elise based race series to get off the ground but now theres a plentiful supply (well in the UK at least) of 2nd hand cars cheaper than a new chassis.

Still can't beat a caterham for handling off track exploits - most can be fixed by attacking any bent bits with a hammer and crowbar ;-)

One aspect I did consider is that in the event of a serious crash (and I have to pu up with other road users who do have trouble seeing the little lotus) then out of all the cars mentions I would much rather be sat in an Elise based car.

[epikeddie]

Man.....I'm just jealous seeing you guys talk about these fantastic machines!

The only one I got a chance to experience was the Ariel Atom. Once with no rear aero wing (my freakin' God was that scary as hell) and once with the rear aero wing.

First and foremost, without any aero parts on the car, the car exhibits exactly what everyone is talking about. It's not even biased for understeer or oversteer. It's light feeling and when you approach speeds that you can with an Atom - dear god....I hope this aero works.

With the wing, it planted that rear end down a bit. It was more confidence inspiring. However, I can safely say that the car was NOT intended for the novice driver. It requires constant feedback and I was sweating like hell by the time I got out of that seat.

It truly exhibits amazing HP/weight ratio. It's design suggests formula car type handling. This I didn't find so true.

Formula cars work BEAUTIFULLY because the majority of their R&D is their aero and chassis. The Atom is a beast with its phenomenal power-to-weight ratio, but it was really hopping around everywhere on the track. It didn't have the proper aero to really put use all the benefits of having a lighter car. Without this key aspect, the car just plain felt scary to drive.....even with a big fat wing on the back.