Properly lightweight race cars are the best kind of race cars. All you get are benefits: the thrills and exhilaration of competition are only heightened with less car around you; less weight to haul means speed without hundreds of horsepower; plus smaller brakes and tyres are cheaper to replace. It’s the best kind of virtuous circle: more exciting, and not as expensive to maintain. Crash damage shouldn’t be as much, either, if there aren’t too many body panels…
The Ariel Atom was the ideal candidate for a race car conversion, then, especially with its mid-engined layout offering a different challenge to front-engined alternatives. The Atom Cup was built from the 3.5 model for the 2013 season, with some serious upgrades like Alcon brakes and Ohlins suspension to make it even better suited to circuit driving. The 245hp Honda K20 engine was unchanged, as was the manual gearbox, but as some of the best in the business that was absolutely fine. You’d never be out of VTEC long in a race, and more than 450hp per tonne was plenty for even seasoned competitors.
Though the Atom Cup was relatively short lived as a race series, the cars made for it live on, and now exist as hugely exciting (not to say very tempting) track day machines. They can be adapted for road use if required, there must be a championship somewhere that caters for them, or they can be enjoyed as this one is - as an occasional circuit car for chasing silly supercars.
Built for the inaugural season of the Atom Cup, this one later raced in the MSV Allcomers series before being used only for track days. It’s completed about half a dozen a year since 2021, has never been road registered, and is showing just over 13,000 miles. Every single one must have been an absolute hoot.
That’s perhaps not even the best bit of this PH Auction lot, however, because alongside an 8,500rpm hellraiser is all the kit you’ll need to make the most of a track day. That includes a 2018 Brian James trailer (serviced every year), a fast fuelling system (the standard one is fiddly), a set of wheels for transit (alongside slicks and wets, with magnesium rims) and a car cover. Hitch it up, don’t forget your packed lunch, and prepare for the most entertaining track session you’ve ever enjoyed.
Having been driven as intended for its entire life, all that would be left for the next custodian to do is a whole lot more of the same. The brake pads will need replacing soon (but then probably not for ages again, because 520kg), and the really keen will need to sort the lap time display (but you’re not meant to time on track days anyway); other than that, the Atom Cup and all its clobber are ready to rock. Best get your tow car sorted pronto.
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