CdocZ
05-03-2005, 09:58 PM
Alot of you probably know about it already, but this 7 person company has recently taken me by storm. No, not by storm, by hurricanes of fire, tidal waves, earthquakes, hail, and lightning. It's the Ariel Atom........this time with a new little idea though.
This was their idea, for those of you who don't know about it yet: Take a Honda Civic (Type R, of course), and stick the engine in a car that weighs about half a ton. It's fully street legal, has two seats, but in between the headrests/rollbars (literally the same object), is the air intake. No radio, wind screen, ABS brakes, power steering, or any of that type of stuff. You have to pay EXTRA for a paintjob on the car! You also, once again, quite literally, sit in the middle of the suspension systems. This car has absolutely no body work, except around the engine, where it is still very sparse. You can even see the gas, and brake pedals working, and if you have the right view (not from sitting inside the car), you can even see the clutch/transmission doing it's job. It even has a trunk: a small thing inside the area between the legs of the two passengers, which can fit anything smaller then a small-sized camera bag.
Here is when the new idea came in.......the seven workers at Ariel (including administration), decided the car simply was not fast enough. I mean, who wants a car, that can ONLY beat cars that cost easily six or seven times as much, sometimes more then ten times more? Come on, that's pitiful!!!!!!! So, the good doctor's at Ariel, decided to supercharge the Atom, to bring the total horsepower, to 300. Yeah, so now this tiny little car, that feels more like (and looks like) a highly controllable sled on wheels, now has 600 horsepower per ton. It accelerates to 60 in something like a tiny bit under 3 seconds (2.9, if I remember correctly), and can post times that now, quite easily rival some of the best supercars that cost sometimes even ten times as much.
Two words: Holy SHIT! :eek:
Some nice vids and pics:
http://www.openwheelers.co.nz/newmodel/downloads.htm
"I have piloted F-15's, jumped out of helicopters and parachuted from airplanes, and countless other thrilling things......I like this more" - Jeremy Clarkson (no, it is not that accurate, but that's nicely close).
This was their idea, for those of you who don't know about it yet: Take a Honda Civic (Type R, of course), and stick the engine in a car that weighs about half a ton. It's fully street legal, has two seats, but in between the headrests/rollbars (literally the same object), is the air intake. No radio, wind screen, ABS brakes, power steering, or any of that type of stuff. You have to pay EXTRA for a paintjob on the car! You also, once again, quite literally, sit in the middle of the suspension systems. This car has absolutely no body work, except around the engine, where it is still very sparse. You can even see the gas, and brake pedals working, and if you have the right view (not from sitting inside the car), you can even see the clutch/transmission doing it's job. It even has a trunk: a small thing inside the area between the legs of the two passengers, which can fit anything smaller then a small-sized camera bag.
Here is when the new idea came in.......the seven workers at Ariel (including administration), decided the car simply was not fast enough. I mean, who wants a car, that can ONLY beat cars that cost easily six or seven times as much, sometimes more then ten times more? Come on, that's pitiful!!!!!!! So, the good doctor's at Ariel, decided to supercharge the Atom, to bring the total horsepower, to 300. Yeah, so now this tiny little car, that feels more like (and looks like) a highly controllable sled on wheels, now has 600 horsepower per ton. It accelerates to 60 in something like a tiny bit under 3 seconds (2.9, if I remember correctly), and can post times that now, quite easily rival some of the best supercars that cost sometimes even ten times as much.
Two words: Holy SHIT! :eek:
Some nice vids and pics:
http://www.openwheelers.co.nz/newmodel/downloads.htm
"I have piloted F-15's, jumped out of helicopters and parachuted from airplanes, and countless other thrilling things......I like this more" - Jeremy Clarkson (no, it is not that accurate, but that's nicely close).