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One of the first things you notice with the Atom is that when you walk up to it, it hasn't lost any of its drama over the years.
People might be looking at the Nomad now and say that's the halo car for Ariel bizarrely in many respects but it's a beautiful thing.
That exposed chassis and the inborn suspension taken on this car at 3.5 because it's got the only TTX stampers on it and they are just so juvenile-like sitting there all proud from the front suspension.
So many good angles and it's such a dramatic thing to be around in spite of being around for twenty years and yet still It looks fresh as a daisy.
It's just such an incredible looking thing.
It hasn't aged at all, particular with all the extra errors on the V8 atom like this one and these side pods that have a charge core on one side and a pedal box on the other.
The fact that you can look at the pedal box inside doesn't have to be Well put together and does have to be beautiful you can't have any sort of loose ends around there.
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So one of the specs for the 3.5R well it's got the supercharged Honda V-Tec engine in it powers it up to 350 horsepower so that's 40 horsepower.
increase over the 310.
It's up to 243 pounds foot of torque.
That drops naught 60 time to 2 1/2 seconds and then naught to 100 mile an hour time is now 6 seconds.
That is just bonkers.
I love launching an Air Atom, it's just such a fun experience.
You actually launch them in second gear.
The rapid way they get off the line is Just brilliant.
There was less I suppose there was about super charger one.
We've come to know from the super charged [UNKNOWN], but it's just such a gritty noise.
And the soundtrack is attitude by the feature that I suppose links it most closely to the V 8 atom 500 which is this sort of sequential box which is paddle operated.
It's pneumatically actuated And it's just such a cool thing, it really adds to the car, and makes it I think, even better on track, there's a very good reason for that.
With this car, you can left the brake much more easily.
When you're pottering around the pits, or driving through town, then it's best to use the clutch but as soon as you're out on the track you can flat shift with it.
You can actually downshift five shifts in a second if you're quick enough on the paddle.
I'm not sure I could be or even quite when you need to do that.
But it is just a fantastic box, and so when you're up and running you've got all the amazing sort of cracks from full bore up shifts on it.
And because obviously you look at the weight distribution on an atom and all weight is pretty much over the back.
Where the engine and so to help get the nose in the corner or trim the line, just be on to left or break a bit really really helps the balance.
These actions, over the years, have changed dramatically really.
When they first came out they were very tricky to drive because of the weight balance and now they just feel so Well balanced really.
And they get into a corner so well now.
They're just a huge, huge amount of fun.
It was awhile since I've driven something quite so lightweight.
It only weighs 550 kilos.
Perhaps the biggest compliment you can pay the Ariel Asset is the fact that you get out of it at the end of the day.
and we attract cars, something a bit different but why would we have a case here?
With the atom, you generally don't ask that question because it is its own thing.
I bring something different to party, it took a while to actually get used to the fact of how late you can break, and again how hard you can break, how aggressive you can be and also how well it [UNKNOWN] the second you came, coming back round, there's a big bump though the quick right hand there, that in a light weight car you think you might get really defective and feel pretty terrifying to be honest.
[INAUDIBLE] absolutely brilliant.
Again through the quick corners at the end of the straight down to the first turns, it was really faithful.
It actually gave you a huge amount of confidence.
Actually the quicker corners when you are steering from the rear.
In the V8 He has way more power than traction so you really could steer it on a throttle.
This wasn't quite like that so you needed to carry more momentum into the corner definitely to get it over-steering on the exit and just start that lovely way that it can.
It might have been around for a few years now but I'm glad to finally driven it V8 is still my absolute favorite Atom every but this runs it a very, very close second.
It was just brilliant to drive, so viscerally thrilling.
It's just such a fun car and I love it to bits
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