The Ariel Atom is a high performance open air roadster that is produced by the Ariel Motor Company in Somerset, England. The Atom is built with an exoskeleton type frame and features very minimal bodywork to go along with the sports car’s lightweight theme. The Ariel Atom is powered by a variety of power plants ranging from a supercharged Honda K series four cylinders to GM Ecotec engines with outputs ranging from 245 HP to 300 HP depending upon the application. The standard Atom is able to accelerate from 0 to 60 MPH in only 2.7 seconds and can reach a top speed of 150 MPH. Ariel is currently working on the Atom 500, taking the lightweight sports car to the next level with a 2.4 Liter 10,000 RPM V8 made from a pair of Suzuki Hyabusa engines that will produce a maximum output of 500 HP.
We all know how difficult it could be to eat something while we’re riding in a car. Between spilling your drink and dropping some pickles on the seat, the sanitary risks are all there.
Then there’s the matter of eating a Big Mac while riding shotgun on an Ariel Atom. In this video, a couple of guys demonstrate how to eat a Big Mac on an Atom that’s going full blast. One dude was in charge of driving the high-powered sports car while the other was tasked with the more difficult job of actually consuming a Big Mac meal, complete with fries and a large soda.
Needless to say, it proved to be far more difficult to accomplish, especially when it came to actually controlling you hands from all the involuntary movements it was making as a result of the Atom going full-blast on the road.
There are plenty of laughs in this video, as well as a reminder that it’s probably not the best idea to try consuming your lunch while you’re on board a car like the Atom.
Seriously, how do these people think of this stuff?
We know that this really isn’t so much of a race as it is a clear show of superiority for the out-of-this world Ariel Atom V8, but it’s still pretty cool to see how a car like the Wiesmann MF3 Roadster can hold up against the mighty Atom, even if it’s relative to the number of car-lengths the latter can have over the former.
This video shows us exactly how powerful the Atom V8 really is. Make no mistake, the MF3 Roadster is far from a lightweight considering that it’s powered by a 3.2.-liter inline six-cylinder engine that produces 343 horsepower and 269 lb/ft of torque. But when you put those numbers up against the Atom V8 and its 3.0-liter V8 engine that chalks up 500 horsepower, it’s about as competitive as LeBron James participating in a dunk contest against Verne Troyer.
That’s not to say that this video isn’t entertaining. After all, it’s always fun to see the Ariel Atom V8 lay the smack down on any car that tries to cross its path.
Italy’s Stelvio Pass is known as one of the most dangerous, as well as the most amazing roads in the world. So when Top Gear wanted to do some testing shots with a truly unprecedented selection of performance cars currently on the market, Stelvio Pass was an obvious choice for the location.
All the cars in the show were estimated at £3,718,090 - or about $5,217,907 at the current exchange rates - and delivered a combined output of 6,071bhp. So, which one do you like best?
The presenters over at Top Gear have seen and driven just about every supercar that has been produced for the last decade, so it’s not surprising that the fastest lap times around their race track belong to the fastest and most powerful machines on the planet.
But as the course of history has shown us, once in a while, a modern day David arrives with a rock and a sling in hand to topple the mighty Goliaths in one fell swoop.
Weighing only 550 kg and powered by a 3.0-liter V8 engine that produces 500 horsepower, this David is by no means a pushover. It’s the Ariel Atom V8 500 and it sure made quite an impression on Top Gear.
If you believed that the Atom V8 500 was the best Ariel could do, well you were wrong. The company is preparing a limited edition Atom Mugen that has made its world debut at the UK’s Autosport Show in January 2011. The model was built as a celebration of the Atom’s 10th anniversary and will be limited to only 10 units. Each of these units will feature different livery and will have a numbered plate signed by Ariel and Mugen.
The future Atom Mugen, as you might have guessed, will be developed in cooperation with the Japanese tuner, Mugen, who is no stranger when it comes to developing tuning packages for a number of Honda models.
Together, the two companies were able to build an Ariel Atom that’s so deliciously powerful, 10 models feels like it’s not enough to satiate the craving of Atom fans all over the world.
Details for the 2012 Ariel Atom Mugen after the jump
