DubiCars Exotic Car Of The Week — Ariel Atom: Raw, Visceral & Pure Performance

The UAE has no dearth of exotic cars. Finding some rare Italian supercars, fancy luxury cars and more like them isn’t a difficult task. In such a market, it is often a little too hard to stand out. However, if you look for the right kind of car, it is very easy to stand out in a crowd without having to shell out millions of dirhams. 

A supercar offers quick acceleration, big top-speed numbers, and great handling. However, if you are after something that is more of a racecar and less of a supercar, something that offers the visceral feel only an open single-seater can, nothing comes quite close to the Ariel Atom. 

In production since 2000, the Ariel Atom is one of the few cars out there that can give its driver the feel of a proper racecar while still being road legal. In this edition of the DubiCars Exotic of the Week, we take a look at the Ariel Atom.

The development of the Ariel Atom began way back in 1996 as a student project at Coventry University in Coventry, England. Now well-known car designer Niki Smart was a transport design student at the university back then and the Ariel Atom was his first design. Although, back then, it was known as the ‘Lightweight Sports Car.’ The new project was first displayed at the 1996 British International Motor Show.

In 1991, industrialist Simon Saunders set up a company called Solocrest. After looking at just how much interest the Lightweight Sports Car project generated, Saunders renamed his company Solocrest as the Ariel Motor Company in 1999 and put the Ariel Atom into production. Eight generations/models of the Ariel Atom have been produced so far and each generation has become significantly faster.

Though it has been in production for 23 years now, not much has changed in terms of the overall design and styling. It still features an exposed chassis, and this exoskeleton design has been one of the defining characteristics of the Atom since the very beginning. The front end of the Ariel Atom features a pointed and sharp nose flanked by tiny circular headlamps.

At the rear is the engine, and gearbox along with other mechanical components, and all of them are exposed. The massive spoiler at the rear completes the design and styling of the car. It isn’t the most elaborate design and most of it is raw. However, that is exactly what makes Ariel Atom special.

The first generation Ariel Atom featured a lightweight chassis combined with a relatively powerful Rover 1.8-litre engine. It featured a proper 6-speed manual gearbox and offered brilliant handling characteristics thanks to the race-car-like suspension setup. Over the years, the Ariel Atom has gone through several engine and powertrain configurations and the Ariel Motor Company never produced any of the engines. It has always been outsourced.

The Ariel Atom 2 launched in 2003 was powered by a supercharged Chevrolet engine that produced 300hp. The Ariel Atom 2 used a turbocharged version of a Honda Civic’s engine. In 2008, the Ariel Atom 500 was launched. This was powered by a 3.0-litre V8 engine that produced 500hp, thereby giving it the Atom 500 name. This version weighed just 550kg, and hence, it has a power-to-weight ratio of 909hp per tonne. This is clearly hypercar territory.

Then came the Ariel Atom 3.5R with a 2.0-litre supercharged Honda Engine. After that came the Ariel Atom 3S which was specifically designed for the US market. This version was also powered by a turbocharged Honda engine. Finally came the Atom 4 in 2018 with a Honda Type R engine producing 321hp.

The Ariel Atom is one of the most elusive cars even in a high-end car market like the UAE. It comes with no creature comforts, no air-conditioning, no stereo system, and it doesn’t even have doors, windows, or a roof. As a result, it doesn’t have many takers. However, in the right hands, an Ariel Atom will absolutely blitz a supercar on a racetrack.

It offers a direct, raw, and visceral driving experience unlike any other car out there and that makes it a brilliant exotic. Find a new Ariel Atom for sale in the UAE or a used Ariel Atom for sale in the UAE. Though it is hard to come by one for sale, they turn up every now and then, so stay tuned.

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