Or perhaps that, when looking for a performance rival for the Atom V8, we ended up at the McLaren F1 and Bugatti Veyron Super Sport? That’s how fast the Atom V8 is and, perhaps obviously, it would be even quicker were it not for the fact that we test all of our cars with two occupants on board.
When you’ve got four-digit horsepower and a 1995kg kerb weight, as the Bugatti does, an extra occupant doesn’t make much difference to its straight-line performance. The Atom V8’s flyweight 650kg, though, meant that there was some discussion about which of our staffers should sit next to our road test editor while he pushed some pedals and pulled the appropriate levers. Ariel has seen 0-60mph in the two-second bracket on the road, but with two people on board it hit 60mph in a creditable 3.0sec.
The Atom V8 has a launch control system that gives extremely consistent results. From a standing start, the V8 passed 60mph in 3.02sec precisely in each of two directions. It takes 5.7sec to reach 100mph, after which the Ariel’s aerodynamics start to take control. The Veyron Super Sport is just 0.7sec quicker than the Atom to 100mph but reaches 150mph 6.3sec sooner.
Nonetheless, the Ariel is a scintillatingly fast car, but not in the same way as the Veyron, or other modern supercars. You’re acutely aware of its lack of inertia. There’s no build-up of relentless thrust; you just think yourself down the road. The V8’s in-gear figures aren’t as fast as the quickest sports bikes, but the feeling is similar. A prod of throttle adds 10mph or 20mph; lift off and it quickly decelerates. It has an enviable straight-line agility that most modern cars can only dream of and a gearshift so fast that you’d swear it was a twin-clutch unit. It’s utterly thrilling and addictive.
Ariel admits the handling on early Atoms was a bit twitchy on the limit. But the Atom 3, on which the V8 is based, is now a very well sorted sports car, with excellent steering and a well resolved balance of ride and handling. Compared with the ‘regular’ Atom, the V8’s spring and damper settings are stiffened in its standard, factory-fresh set-up, so as to be better on a circuit than on the road. However, it’s very adjustable. The dampers adjust three ways, the springs four ways.
On a bumpy road, the regular settings can leave the Atom skipping around a bit, particularly on the lightly loaded front. However, this is still a good road car, with some compliance and decent enough ground clearance, so you’re never conscious that you’re driving a track refugee.
Also, one of the joys of this car is that you can play around with the settings and tyre pressures to suit your favourite road or track, or find a generic set-up that suits it best. And the Atom is very communicative; through the seat and the steering wheel, you feel every millimetre of what’s going on beneath those tyres.
The tyres themselves, though, do present a problem. They’re Toyo Proxes R888s, because softer specialist tyres of the right size don’t carry a high enough speed rating to match the Atom V8’s 170mph (limited) top end.
The Proxes are designed for heavier cars than the Atom, so it’s hard to get any heat into the lightly loaded fronts. (At the rear, 475bhp does the hard work for you.) Dropping the front tyre pressures partially resolves it, but there’s some steady-state understeer to work through.
The steering itself is brilliant, with terrific road feel through the suede rim of its wheel, which gives 1.7 turns between locks. It stops well, too. There’s no ABS, but the pedal gives good feel and there’s solid retardation and even very effective front/rear brake bias adjustment.[via : Autocar]
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