Dangermouse
09-26-2011, 12:56 PM
On Saturday afternoon I was on my way to a local car show with my son when this “go-cart” raced out from a side street and disappeared into the distance. Wait! Was that an Ariel Atom! Holy S#@t!
I floored the ol’ minivan and had soon caught up with the Atom, although the fact that it was stopped at a set of lights may have helped a little ;)
Green light, and whoosh, it was gone again. I was so surprised that I didn’t even think to get out the camera, but as luck would have it, it was on its way to the same show I was going to. Of course by the time I got there it had registered, parked, and cooled down.
I knew a little about the car, in that it is light and very fast, made in the UK, and obviously eschews such luxuries as doors, roof, windows etc.
I had seen the car on that infamous Top Gear episode, but didn’t know it was available stateside.
Twice the HP and ½ the weight of our cars, which makes it a tad quick,. 0-60 in 2.8 seconds. No that’s not a misprint – two point eight seconds. It’s not clear whether that is with the 245HP stock Honda engine or the super charged 300HP version. There is also a 500HP V8
Thought to be about 250 cars in total in the states, but it isn’t known how many are road-legal. Many are track-day cars only.
A little post-show research shows that you can buy one “for track use only” from the authorized assembler but any attempts to title and register it in your state is entirely up to the owner. This one was registered in FL as supposedly the owner has a house there. I didn’t get talking to him to see if it is possible to register one in GA. On-line research later showed that it is impossible to register a new one in CA. There are supposedly about 10 CA cars that were registered before some regulatory change was made
Cost - $40-60,000 used if you can find one, $75-100k new.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6166/6185411472_04217e9f70_z.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6166/6184888759_efbc487934_z.jpg
It's registered as a car, but driver and passenger were both wearing full face helmets, but I don't know if that was a legal requirement or just personal preference
I floored the ol’ minivan and had soon caught up with the Atom, although the fact that it was stopped at a set of lights may have helped a little ;)
Green light, and whoosh, it was gone again. I was so surprised that I didn’t even think to get out the camera, but as luck would have it, it was on its way to the same show I was going to. Of course by the time I got there it had registered, parked, and cooled down.
I knew a little about the car, in that it is light and very fast, made in the UK, and obviously eschews such luxuries as doors, roof, windows etc.
I had seen the car on that infamous Top Gear episode, but didn’t know it was available stateside.
Twice the HP and ½ the weight of our cars, which makes it a tad quick,. 0-60 in 2.8 seconds. No that’s not a misprint – two point eight seconds. It’s not clear whether that is with the 245HP stock Honda engine or the super charged 300HP version. There is also a 500HP V8
Thought to be about 250 cars in total in the states, but it isn’t known how many are road-legal. Many are track-day cars only.
A little post-show research shows that you can buy one “for track use only” from the authorized assembler but any attempts to title and register it in your state is entirely up to the owner. This one was registered in FL as supposedly the owner has a house there. I didn’t get talking to him to see if it is possible to register one in GA. On-line research later showed that it is impossible to register a new one in CA. There are supposedly about 10 CA cars that were registered before some regulatory change was made
Cost - $40-60,000 used if you can find one, $75-100k new.
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6166/6185411472_04217e9f70_z.jpg
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6166/6184888759_efbc487934_z.jpg
It's registered as a car, but driver and passenger were both wearing full face helmets, but I don't know if that was a legal requirement or just personal preference