Gautam Sharma•15 May 2014
NEWS
Ariel unleashes steroidal Atom 3.5R
British lightweight supercar specialist reveals an even more manic version of its supercharged giant-killerIt's not as though the Ariel Atom 3.5 could be accused of being a pedestrian offering, yet the Brit purveyor of ultralight supercars has just unleashed an even more bonkers 'R' version that costs around AUD $110,000 in its home market.
Propulsion for the ultimate Atom is provided by an uprated Honda Civic Type R 2.0-litre supercharged four-pot that cranks out 261kW at 8400 rpm (versus 231kW for the standard Atom 3.5) and 330Nm at 6100rpm.
The extra grunt was liberated by the addition of a custom sidepod-mounted intercooler and by screwing up boost from 7.5 to 11 psi.
Although an output of 261kW is nothing special these days, it's enough to enable Veyron-rivalling performance (at least up to 100km/h) in the feather-light 550kg Atom 3.5R.
The manufacturer quotes a 0-60mph (0-96 km/h) split of 2.5sec and 0-100mph (0-161 km/h) in 6sec, which puts it in the same company as elite supercars costing many times as much as the barebones Atom.
It's not just a straight-line bully, as the Atom 3.5R's prodigious accelerative capabilities are complemented by sharpened dynamics via an adjustable limited-slip differential, Öhlins springs and TTX adjustable dampers.
Stopping power also promises to be up to the mark, thanks to four-piston calipers operating on beefy 290mm vented discs.
Drive is relayed to the rear wheels by a race-bred Sadev six-speed sequential gearbox that can shift up through the ratios in under 40 milliseconds.
There's also plenty of scope for buyers to tailor their cars according to their tastes and requirements, as alternative wheels, tyres, bodywork and a raft of other racing components can be specified to order.
It all looks and sounds pretty tasty to us and we can't imagine anything else out there offering more bang (or fun factor) for your buck. Just the thing with which to clean up at track days...
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Written byGautam Sharma
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