Looking a little like an overgrown Formula car, the Ariel Atom is a street-legal open-wheel car made by the Ariel Motor Company both in Somerset, England and TMI AutoTech at Virginia International Raceway. With no roof, doors or windshield car’s chassis is completely visible like an exoskeleton.
The atom’s stripped down chassis and relatively powerful 2.4l 4 cylinder Honda engine makes for a truly unique driving experience. The car is rear engine, and has no body elements more than is absolutely necessary to fit two people, an engine, 4 tyres and a crash structure. With all the weight directly over the rear axle, the car is very tail-heavy, prone to understeer on corner entry, and very lively under power.
With only a handful of laps, I had to quickly figure out the handling characteristics of the car. Early on I took it very easy, and was surprised by just how much grip the Atom had. Despite its tricky nature under the power, the grippy tires and light chassis make it very compliant through turns. The car also has an H-pattern manual gearbox, which is a lot of fun, but requires a bit of getting used to, particularly on downshifts. I was eager not to rev the engine too hard, but it takes some throttle to downshift, and once I figured that out I was getting the car to properly launch out of the corners.
While 245 HP doesn’t seem like much, the car only weighs 1,350 lbs, plus a little extra when me and instructor Max Preston climb in. Max is always fun to drive with, and encouraged me to chase down a driver in a Porsche who was not eager to let us through. We chased him around the track, where the nimble Atom really shines, and the Porsche can’t use its superior straight line speed. Eventually we got the point by and carried on.
Even though it’s been a couple of years since I ran under Max’s karting team New Speed Motorsports, we always have fun on track together. After the session I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. What a crazy car!
~ Daniel Demaras ~
Cool!!
Very cool. And amazingly, a street-legal car.