Tuesday 8th July 2014

Ariel Atom 'ring lap: Time For Tea?

Time for tea and a lie down, possibly, after a lap of the Nordschleife in an Atom with our man Dale

---

"Do you want a go?" sounds the voice behind me. I've been caught! Caught in a trap baited by a 300hp supercharged toy. I might be a grown man wandering around the car park at Destination Nurburgring, but in reality I'm as helpless as a fly in honey. I break away from inspecting the Atom before me, and turn around to face the friendly voice.

"Erm, I'm not sure I should," I offer, somewhat weakly. Something in the back of my head is ringing a warning bell. It's muffled by the imagined roar of blown VTEC, but I can still hear it.

"Ah, come on," says the car's owner Neil. "You'll love it. Take it for a lap!"

I'm silent. He's right, I will. A 2010-model Ariel Atom with the 2.0-litre K20 motor plucked from a Honda Civic Type R with a blower fitted. No aero. Semi-slicks.

"You know, if there was a GP track session I'd be all over it like a tramp on chips," I say. "But I'm not sure the Nordschleife is the place to learn about the limits of something I've never driven before."

And that's how, one 15-minute session of the GP track later, I find myself rolling out on to the Nordschleife in the video you can watch below....

Nordschleife lap here.

[Source: BridgeToGantry via YouTube]

[flingstam]

It was all going so well until that shonky old mk2 Golf came breezing past (~7:47 in the video)

Edited by flingstam on Tuesday 8th July 16:49

Edited by flingstam on Tuesday 8th July 16:52

[dapearson]

WANT!!!!!!

[Veeayt]

Kallenhard is a good place to put a little drift, isn't it?

[MC Bodge]

Gizza go mister

[chuntington101]

Whats all this about the K20 being turned around 180 degrees. Pretty sure that's not the case. Would make for a very fast car going backwards wouldn't it? lol

[agtlaw]

I saw you going out...



Followed by Nige's mk2 golf. No doubt someone can find his 'follow lap' on YouTube.

[MissChief]

chuntington101 said:

Whats all this about the K20 being turned around 180 degrees. Pretty sure that's not the case. Would make for a very fast car going backwards wouldn't it? lol

Depends on the gearbox, not the engine orientation.

[stats007]

Don't give up your day job .

[DonkeyApple]

When it started I thought the SC whine was the driver screaming!!!

[Dale Lomas]

MissChief said:

chuntington101 said:

Whats all this about the K20 being turned around 180 degrees. Pretty sure that's not the case. Would make for a very fast car going backwards wouldn't it? lol

Depends on the gearbox, not the engine orientation.

No, it's not. I think I've been looking at too many B-series motors in the last couple of weeks. Don't worry, a responsible adult amended my copy just moments later!

And here's the onboard from Nige's Golf behind me!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c04bw4FZDWE

[iloveboost]

Looks like a nice, easy getting to know the car lap. The oversteer into that turn before the Karrusel is that what most mid engined cars do there because it's slightly downhill? Looks easy to control weirdly but I guess that's good driving making it look easy? The power oversteer near the start of the lap it seems like you have to be really fast on the steering to catch it.

[lamboman100]

Nice supercharger whine. But looks awful. And very twitchy handling.

[Gandahar]

Enjoyed it a lot, looked a handful to be honest, but that is the fun. Hats off Dale for not stacking something not driven much and with some gusto. So sunny?

What's that mild mannered super hero Golf packing?

[Leggy]

That was epic. Bit of a handful and a bit twitchy for my liking.
That is one very brave passenger.
Echo other comments about that Golf, jeez that wasn't hanging about.

[Chicane-UK]

What the hell was in that Golf! Must be a 1.8T that's been well tuned up at the very minimum!

Ahh.. quick Google and I found this chaps video.. think it might be the same car 16V Turbo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J-xv-UDocg

[DonkeyApple]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

The camera is right by the charger, if that's the noise you're referring too.

[storminnorman]

DonkeyApple said:

When it started I thought the SC whine was the driver screaming!!!

I've had a passenger ride in an atom and had exactly the same thought when he floored it. It's a very surreal noise.

[mrdemon]

flingstam said:

It was all going so well until that shonky old mk2 Golf came breezing past (~7:47 in the video)

lol thats what I thought

[EggsBenedict]

More love here for that Golf. I imagine a couple of the Porkers that didn't see which way it went were a little surprised....

Those other two white Porkers weren't hanging about though either.

[DonkeyApple]

storminnorman said:

DonkeyApple said:

When it started I thought the SC whine was the driver screaming!!!

I've had a passenger ride in an atom and had exactly the same thought when he floored it. It's a very surreal noise.

Surreal? As a passenger, is there anything more disturbing than hearing the driver start screaming?