2015 Ariel Atom 3.5

Highlights

• 0-60mph circa 2.7 seconds
• Six-speed manual for the purest experience
• Showing just 14,500 miles from new
• Carbon fibre front and rear wings
• Comprehensive service history

Overview

When it comes to music, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells is a classic everyone knows. And when it comes to a tubular chassis, the Aerial Atom just as revered. Can you believe that it’s been bringing people track-day delights for nearly 25 years now? That’s just crazy and, happily, the Atom hasn’t been tamed in that time – it’s still as wild as ever.

While many people knowofthe Aerial Atom, maybe some don’t know how the company came to be. It was actually nothing more glamorous than a student project by Nick Smart, who was at Coventry University studying transport design in the early ‘90s. He offered his lightweight design to various manufacturers and they turned him down. Being a determined chap, though, he forged ahead anyway by inaugurating his own car company to manufacture the Atom. That was with partner Simon Saunders, who was a senior transport design lecturer. Funding from companies such as British Steel and TWR helped get the project off the ground, with Lotus helping to perfect the suspension set-up.

The Atom was shown first at the British Motor Show at the NEC in 1996 and production started in 2000. The original used a 1.8-litre K-Series engine with 190hp, but the version we have for you here – the Atom 3.5 – appeared in 2013. It has quite a bit more poke, too. You see, the Atom 2 had already swapped the naturally aspirated K-Series for a Honda Type R motor and supercharging. When the 3 came along, in 2007, that used the improved Honda K20Z4.

Again, a supercharger force-fed the engine with oxygen and, as a result, power for the 3 was up to 300hp. The 3.5 added a further, smaller increase, which took it to around 310hp. In a car that still weighed around 520kg that was plenty. The 3.5 also introduced other changes, like the neater triple headlight arrangement at the front, along with myriad other innovations carried over from the mighty V8.

This car has the fantastic Honda six-speed transmission instead of the optional Sadev sequential ‘box, and also has the front and rear wings. It’s done just 14,500 miles since it was registered back in 2015, and has a fantastic history indicating the care that’s been lavished on it since.

History and documentation

• Registered 01 Feb 2015
• 14,580 miles showing when pictured
• Invoices show services as follows: July 2017 @ 8,431 miles, June 2018 @ 9,816 miles (inc. brake fluid), June 2020 @ 12,067 miles (inc. brake fluid), April 2021 @ 12,529 miles, May 2022 @ 12,358 miles, April 2024 @ 14,527 miles (inc. brake fluid and transmission oil)
• The car was also reportedly serviced in 2023 and a copy invoice has been requested which will be added when it is received
• Invoice for new front and rear pads and discs dated May 2022 @ 12,358 miles
• Atom 3.5 handbook
• Four owners from new
• Current MOT with no advisories expires 08 May 2025
• V5 present in owner’s name
• HPI clear
• London ULEZ compliant
• Valuable and relevant registration plate FF54 TOM (“FFS ATOM”) is included in the sale

Interior

• Full spec list includes: no windows, no doors, no roof, and it’s all the better for it; you do get a windscreen (well, sort of)
• Delightful Alcantara-trimmed three-spoke quick-release Sparco steering wheel
• Simple yet functional race-spec digital instrument cluster
• Wonderfully stubby gear lever with aluminium gear knob
• TRS fixed harnesses and shell bucket seats
• Classic Tilton pedal box is perfect for heel-and-toe shifting
• This particular car is the handiwork of Kelvin Marshall, as denoted by the build plate next to the gear lever
• The luggage compartment looks to be in good condition – well, we say luggage compartment but it’s more of a cubby, really, but that’s all about keeping weight down
• The owner says the only real cosmetic issues are some small marks on the seats
• No faults reported with any of the car’s electrical features

Exterior

• The Atom’s unique design still looks as menacing as ever
• Obviously, there isn’t much bodywork here, but what there is, is a mix of black painted sections and bare carbon fibre, contrasting perfectly with the silver-painted space frame
• Carbon fibre front and rear wings – adjustable at the rear
• Carbon fibre front cover
• Driver and passenger windscreens
• Later-style, one-piece triple-element front lights
• From the pictures it all appears to be in excellent shape, bar some light (and inevitable) stone chips on the wishbones
• 15-inch graphite 12-spoke alloys – all four appear to be in excellent nick
• Underside looks clean and tidy with only light surface corrosion in select places

Mechanical

• Honda VTEC 1,998cc inline-four, supercharged, petrol
• Rated at 310hp @ 8,400rpm and 229lb ft @ 7,200rpm
• Performance in the region of 0-60mph 2.7 seconds and 155mph top whack
• Four-branch exhaust manifold and stainless steel silencer
• Mid-engine layout
• Six-speed manual gearbox
• Rear-wheel drive
• Fully adjustable Eibach coilover suspension front and rear
• Alcon four-piston monobloc calipers and cross-cut discs front and rear
• New front and rear pads and discs fitted May 2022 @ 12,358 miles
• Yokohama Advan A052 tyres all round
• Obviously, this Atom 3.5 is ballistic quick, as nimble as a fly, and sounds as raw as you’d expect with all that sound deadening – by which we mean there isn’t any, of course
• The owner has said that this car ‘starts fine every time…drives perfect’
• No reported mechanical issues with the car

Summary

Any Aerial Atom delivers rawness and exhilaration in spades – anyone who’s driven one will tell you that. But this Atom 3.5 is what you got from Aerial after they’d spent a good decade-and-a-bit honing the chassis and bolstering the performance with a good dollop of Honda VTEC power. In other words, it’s an absolute hoot whether you plan to drive it on the road or the track. Indeed, it’s fully deserving of opening up the book of cliches. We’ll go for the immortal line: ‘It has the sort of performance levels that can, in the right hands, trouble numerous supercars,’ because by-heck it has.

You need to be careful not to buy one that’s been abused, mind, and that’s why we’re happy offering this one for sale. It hasn’t been through tens of pairs of hands, despite being not far shy of ten-years old. And all four of its owners to date appear to have made sure this Atom’s been serviced properly and cared for dutifully.

Now, just imagine this car on your favourite country road or at full chat at your favourite circuit. Are you holding that image in your mind? Good. Now enter your bid and make it a reality.

To arrange a viewing, please request this in the Q&A section. You can click through to the seller's profile and use the 'Email Me' function to arrange a viewing privately. This seller is located in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey.