If you don’t know the auto manufacturer Ariel, you should. You know Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus, right? Chapman is famous for the quote, “Simplify, and add lightness,” regarding his vehicles. Ariel follows that concept with the fervor of a religious zealot, and their vehicles have been some of the most wicked little go-karts to ever be allowed license plates and full registration. The road-going version, the Atom, gained notoriety after Jeremy Clarkson of TopGear tested one out without a helmet on. Ever wonder what wind distortion can do to your face? Wonder no more:
The Atom is the base model, by the way. Normal Atoms are powered by either a supercharged Honda K-series four or, in certain cases, the supercharged EcoTec four-cylinder found in the Chevrolet Cobalt SS, but they did make the Atom 500 V8. This is in a car that weighs in at a breath more than 1,300 pounds curb weight. Holy unbelievable hell…and they didn’t stop there, either, because they made an off-road version of the same monster, the Nomad. It’s essentially an Atom with an off-road suspension setup. Same light weight, same screaming engine (Honda, in this case), and a rally course in Wales to run around on. Sounds like a pretty good day, but tooling around alone just doesn’t cut it, so let’s bring in a sociopathic motocross rider from Northern Ireland and his Suzuki for a good race around the course!
I thought all Ariels were only available in orange!
This paint job does the car credit and its the nearest thing to a road-going Baha buggy ever made – but I had to insert reams of moist paper in my ears to block out the nauseous accent of the presenter…..
And as for the lunatic motorcyclist – its far cheaper and easier to jump off a cliff if your’e into serial bone-breaking!