RE: Atom Wins Autocar’s 0-100-0mph Challenge
Wednesday 1st August 2007
Atom also won 0-100-0mph challenge in 2005Ariel’s Supercharged Atom has claimed its second title as victor of Autocar’s 0-100-0mph challenge, with a time of just 11.35sec. The annual event, hosted at Bruntingthorpe Airfield, pitches 29 of the year’s fastest cars against each other to find the quickest car to perform 0-100-0mph.
Atom Wins Autocar’s 0-100-0mph Challenge
Supercharged Atom beats 28 of this year's quickest cars to claim second 0-100-0mph title
Atom also won 0-100-0mph challenge in 2005
This year’s collection included everything from supercars such as Lamborghini’s Gallardo Superleggera and the Ford GT Roush 600 RE, to superminis like Vauxhall’s Corsa VXR. There’s a video of the spectacle available on www.autocar.co.uk.
Sadly, damp track conditions meant that the Supercharged Atom could not better its own record time of 10.88sec, set in 2005 when the Ariel won its first title.
Bugatti’s Veyron could not attend either, but it remains the only sub-10sec 0-100-0mph car Autocar has ever tested, with a record time of 9.9sec. However, with the Caparo T1 just one month away from launch, both the Veyron and the Atom face some seriously strong competition next year.
Discussion
They had a CanAm in one a few years ago, with the Zonda and Murc and X50 911 996 Turbo...
Or was it the year before.
Either way it was fast but buggered it under brakes as far as I remember.
Either way, Ultima have proved themselves, just a shame Autocar don't let them bring a 720 series car and their own driver. Afterall if the driver makes the difference and Autocars driver can't match the time, then Autocars drivers are not good enough
Dave
Or was it the year before.
Either way it was fast but buggered it under brakes as far as I remember.
Either way, Ultima have proved themselves, just a shame Autocar don't let them bring a 720 series car and their own driver. Afterall if the driver makes the difference and Autocars driver can't match the time, then Autocars drivers are not good enough
Dave
Mr Whippy said:
They had a CanAm in one a few years ago, with the Zonda and Murc and X50 911 996 Turbo...
Or was it the year before.
Either way it was fast but buggered it under brakes as far as I remember.
Either way, Ultima have proved themselves, just a shame Autocar don't let them bring a 720 series car and their own driver. Afterall if the driver makes the difference and Autocars driver can't match the time, then Autocars drivers are not good enough
Dave
But then the Ultima driver would have to run the rest of the cars to get comparative times. And would that not introduce the potential for favouritism?Or was it the year before.
Either way it was fast but buggered it under brakes as far as I remember.
Either way, Ultima have proved themselves, just a shame Autocar don't let them bring a 720 series car and their own driver. Afterall if the driver makes the difference and Autocars driver can't match the time, then Autocars drivers are not good enough
Dave
Do it all with the same driver, an Autocar one, in the same conditions and you get real relativity.
Hmmm, in my view the driver is kind of irrelevant when your talking ultimate potential.
If their driver isn't good enough to get **the best** from all the cars proven by not very good results vs another driver on a specific car, then there is already bias across the cars on test.
Best would be to take five drivers and take the best time for each car from the quickest driver. What if you have someone great at driving one car and crap at another and vice versa with another driver, it tells you nothing.
The test is basically, which cars can Mr X drive quickly?
Dave
If their driver isn't good enough to get **the best** from all the cars proven by not very good results vs another driver on a specific car, then there is already bias across the cars on test.
Best would be to take five drivers and take the best time for each car from the quickest driver. What if you have someone great at driving one car and crap at another and vice versa with another driver, it tells you nothing.
The test is basically, which cars can Mr X drive quickly?
Dave
Edited by Mr Whippy on Wednesday 1st August 14:16
Matt_Prior said:
I invited them last year and this -- this year Ted Marlow was interested because of the 0-150-0 element, but sadly didn't have a car ready in time.
Matt, so I guess you are "autocar" spokesman? So I have noticed this in the past about Ultima Factory, not sure why Ted seems to be washing his hair each time and cant take part..... any clue as to why not? Also, couldnt you use a private factory built car to test or does it need to be from the factor?Seems the same re Top Gear test track times. Dont quite understand myself, except he may be able to sell more than enough cars and so doesnt need the publicity. But it could call into question Ultimas "official" times?
Does sound a bit sus that Ultima don't attend these events. Considering the publicity they give there own figures.
Dave,
It doesn't really matter how good a driver is as long as the same driver drives each car. Yes, you want a competant driver who can get the best out of a car but if the same shortcomings are applied to each car then it is indeed a fair test.
Ultima must be scared. Very scared.
Dave,
It doesn't really matter how good a driver is as long as the same driver drives each car. Yes, you want a competant driver who can get the best out of a car but if the same shortcomings are applied to each car then it is indeed a fair test.
Ultima must be scared. Very scared.
Its a mate of mine who used his Ultima Canam for the test with Autocar last time. When he was talking to one of Autocars' guys on the stand at the car show to arrange this, the guy stated that Ultima had refused to supply a car - this was over three years ago.
I don't see why they are not able to supply a car, it is lighter faster, and more capable than anything else bar the untested Caparo, but once again Ultima drop the ball when they are challenged openly.
I also think that a correctly set up FI'd Atom with 350 hp and launch control would take the title, and the deserve it.
I don't see why they are not able to supply a car, it is lighter faster, and more capable than anything else bar the untested Caparo, but once again Ultima drop the ball when they are challenged openly.
I also think that a correctly set up FI'd Atom with 350 hp and launch control would take the title, and the deserve it.
That's the 'problem' I have with them. They produce what I consider is a very attractive and potent machine but when they are given the opportunity to put it side by side in a balanced test against - for example - Ariel they never have a car available.
It's a shame really cause you only hear good things about them from owners.
It's a shame really cause you only hear good things about them from owners.
mk1fan said:
Dave,
It doesn't really matter how good a driver is as long as the same driver drives each car. Yes, you want a competant driver who can get the best out of a car but if the same shortcomings are applied to each car then it is indeed a fair test.
Yes it does, because shortcomings are not linear across all cars.It doesn't really matter how good a driver is as long as the same driver drives each car. Yes, you want a competant driver who can get the best out of a car but if the same shortcomings are applied to each car then it is indeed a fair test.
A Veyron in the hands of James may would probably do 0-60 just as quickly as the best racing driver in the world.
An Ultima on the other hand, no.
You need the best time possible, not just what a single driver can achieve across a range of cars, thats no meaningful at all wrt to the cars. The biggest single factor is the drivers ability in this case, not the car! Saying they 'tried their best' isn't very useful either if the car clearly has more to go in the right hands!
Throw multiple drivers at it and you reduce the risk that one driver has a hard time with one specific car giving it a bad time, and then making people think it's a bad car to accelerate quickly, when it could infact be the one driver who is crap with that car!
Dave
I agree that it would be good to see Ultima included.
In fainess these tests can be a real pain for small manufacturers. I remember many years ago Ted commenting that magazines did not know how to figure the car well and let's just say that the cars can get abused also.
Not saying that is how it is with autocar but ...
Personally I think autocar should allow a manufacturer to supply car and driver for these tests adding ballast if needed to make uniform..
In fainess these tests can be a real pain for small manufacturers. I remember many years ago Ted commenting that magazines did not know how to figure the car well and let's just say that the cars can get abused also.
Not saying that is how it is with autocar but ...
Personally I think autocar should allow a manufacturer to supply car and driver for these tests adding ballast if needed to make uniform..
Disappointed to see this article published today, because my edition of Autocar didn't arrive thanks to the postal strike - just as I was warned might be the case in an email a couple of days ago.
This will take away much of the pleasure of reading the story because I will know the winner before I start the first line.
Poor decision-making by somebody, somewhere.
This will take away much of the pleasure of reading the story because I will know the winner before I start the first line.
Poor decision-making by somebody, somewhere.
Gassing Station | Motoring News | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff