Ariel Atom 160

Any engine builder will tell you just how the chasm between just what the punter thinks he wants as well as what he actually needs is wider compared to the panel gaps on executive editor Richard Bremner’s Allegro. It’s all too simple to be seduced by some headline-grabbing power figures only to locate the all-singing lump you’ll be paying off for the following five years includes a power band smaller when compared to a gnat’s G-string and it is all but undriveable on the road. That same rationale, it would appear, applies equally to track day cars. Ariel’s MD Simon Saunders discovered that almost all Atom customers were sure they wanted a full-daddy-spec 220bhp car – until they drove one, that‘s, and located they’d bitten off a little more than they might chew. Plugging Saunders’ newly discovered hole inside the Ariel line-up is that the 160, an Atom using the wick turned down. Set up from the Japanese-spec Honda Civic Type-R engine fitted to the highest Atoms, the 160 has got the milder 158bhp 2. 0-litre coming from the Civic Type-S. There will be five forward gears too, rather than six, two- rather than four-pot brake callipers and non-adjustable Bilstein suspension. Compensation comes inside the shape of the £19, 900 price, compared with £23, 995 to the Atom 220, but there’s more for this cut-price car when compared to a January-sale sticker price. Far from the poor relation, it’s an absolute riot to drive with keen, feelsome steering and also the kind of adjustability that really makes circuit driving fun. Though outright grip coming from the Bridgestone RE720 road tyres can’t match that from the 220’s sticky Dunlop Formula Rs, the 160 is predictable in the limit, meaning it’s much easier to carry inside a satisfying drift. And though it’s almost as muscular like the 220 and runs into its rev limiter far earlier, 158bhp inside a 505kg Meccano kit still equates to 313bhp per tonne, making for serious ground-covering ability on or from the track. It’s still happier upon the track than an open road, but you’re very likely to wish to drive this one there and back, particularly if you’ve opted to the new removable polycarbonate side panels. Chris Chilton Ariel Atom 160