Ladies and Gentlemen, above you is Ariel Motor Company’s “Atom”. An open aired car starting at $20,000 – powered by a Honda Civic Type-R, turbo charged to 305 horsepower. British built and sold in limited quantities in America, this car goes from 0-60 in 2.91 seconds:
Watching it leave the line was like watching a controlled explosion. It had such an overwhelming surfeit of power its driver didn’t even bother using first gear. He simply seleclected second, dropped the clutch and disappeared. On the surface we’d have been stunned if it had hit 60mph in 3.1 sec but, when all six runs were completed, these were the numbers we were faced with: the ’slow’ run into the wind took 2.94 sec, the return just 2.88 sec, to give an average 0-60mph of 2.91 sec.
