My take, on the Ariel Atom.....and the "experience".
08-27-2011, 05:23 AM
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My take, on the Ariel Atom.....and the "experience".
Well, long story short. I was supposed to go to this event friday morning, than got the call from my captain that I had a mandatory callback for work at 6 a.m friday.I had taken a vacation day and explained to my cap what was going on and what we had planned....Well...policy is policy and I was going to be out 500 bucks for missing the event and would have to go to work, after some intense raging, and a very pissed off wife. I got over it and oh well, career vs 500 bucks..... than about 10:30 at nite I get a call from my captain telling me to be in at work at 9pm friday, to go to my event and then get to work. My captain is awesome.
My wife is even awesomer.
I am at work now riding this storm out and have time to kill, so put this thread together for others who may be thinking about doing this to get my take on it.
Woke up at 3:30 and hit the road, drive was no problem as there was no traffic. Once we arrived. I must say VIR is absolutely incredible. I had never been there before and wow it was an amazing place. I cant wait to go back.
So, here is my take on the Ariel Atom,Spec racer.
Im sure most of you are familiar with the car,and probably all have seen the top gear episode. Well that guy was driving the 320/350 ? hp supercharged 2.0 version. Also who on this site hasnt seen that 650 hp version that some company built....This car was the n/a 2.0 version. Which I was pretty bummed about, but decided to just make the most of it.
The look of the car was obviously awesome, the fact that its basically a cage with suspension and a motor is super neat. I just walked around the car and snapped some pics of my favorite parts of the car.
The seating and steering wheel, were well......racecar.
The brakes and suspenion were sweet.
But my absolute favorite part of the car, was the placement and tightness of the shifter.
Brief summary of what I thought about the car :
Fantastic piece of machinery...The car handled exactly like a go cart, you could feel every bit of feedback from the car, the suspension was tight and clean, the STEERING WAS AMAZING. You could not even tell that this car didnt have power steering, the brakes were non powered as well and you literally could stop on a dime. The gearbox was my favorite, everything felt super smooth and in sync. The car just felt so solid and smooth and worked together incredibly well. If you braked properly, zero understeer. The seats could have used a bit more refinement as they felt like bricks, but I expected that. The intake roaring right next to your head is a great thing to listen to. If I had a crap load of money to spend on one of these for a weekend racer, I would. Just not this version.
I had to cons about the car design, along with some other racers in agreeance.
1. The dead pedal was too close to the clutch and our foot would sometimes get caught up in it for a second causing a delay in up or downshifting..
2. This version of the car is fun, but not overly exciting or as fun as a higher powered version would be....I had a blast, but in all truthfullness, was not overly impressed with the quickness of the car, and its obvious why. It is the lowest power model they have.
My take on the "EXPERIENCE"
meeehh......save your money.
This "experience" is basically for people who have only ever driven a stock low powered car, arent used to much power and who are basically beginner drivers. Although I am no experienced road racer, I have somewhat of a knowledge of how to drive a course, when to brake and hit apex's etc..the only time my pulse even came up was when the guy in front of me spun out while we were going about 40 around a little elevated corner. I had to dodge him without going in the gravel which I was able to do without incident. If you are a current racer, this event is not for you, especially if you already race at VIR (which I will now do whenever I can, you were right Brian, ha)....You only get about 45 minutes of drive time, which felt like 5 minutes, because we were not pushing the limits of these cars and were basically just feeling them out, which at times was quite boring. You have to stay behind the pace car, and well, he was basically sunday driving. It was very slow paced. The only time I was able to really "test" out the car, was during the lead/dropback laps. We stayed at the front of the pack for 2 laps, than dropped back so the next guy could have the open lines to follow the pace car. Each time I was in the lead and dropped back. I would drop back quickly, come to a complete stop and wait for the pace car to dissapear around the corner and all the cars to pass..and then launch it and bang through 1,2,3...which was the funnest part. I was able to get to around 103mph when I was able to do that, but if you didnt do that, you never got above 80mph, as I learned from all the other guys who didnt come to a stop and bang through the gears and let the distance beetween the cars wides so you could actually push it. They never made it above 80 cause of the pace car going to slow and having to keep the 3 car gap. Since you werent able to really "drive" the car, there was no timed laps, there was no passing accept on the designated laps, some people were going really slow cause they have only ever driven stock civics or something and werent accustomed to a car that handled well and were very cautious.
Not only was I not terribly impressed with the power, the track was quite dissapointing. It was so short it was kind of upsetting. We were on the patriot course,not incredibly challenging and since you couldnt push the limits of the car, was just not all what most of the participants were thinking it would be. Although I highly appreciate the chance to drive one of these cars, and definitely love the fact that my wife thought to do this for me...and I had a good amount of fun. It was nothing to really "experience", it wasnt breathtaking or something I care to do again, and I would not reccomend it to anyone that has either raced on a track themselves, or who have ALOT of fun at AIK, besides the shifting, it was about the same to me..accept much more expensive and potentially costly since you are liable for the first 10k worth of damage to a car.
Now let me say that the people running the event were very nice, cool people, they were easy to get along with. Excited to adverise their car to you and wanted to see you have a good time. They provided a helmet, gloves and suit to wear. I personally think this "experience" is sort of a sales pitch, since they make the cars at vir, and have a couple of different versions of the car they were trying to get you to either buy or comeback and spend another 2k dollars on longer, more aggressive racing events with different versions of their cars. Thats their job so I wasnt mad about it or anything.
As you can see in the two following short videos (sorry for the quality and placement, there were not many options to film from)..we werent going very fast, the pace car was simply moving around the course. Although it was fun and something Im glad my wife setup for me to do. I would not do it again. The next time I drive on a road course will be in my own car, or someone elses where I can actually push the car and learn it a bit more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEYs9oinCk8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uknz6hiLmv0
These guys were doing it right...it was open track day or whatnot for the vir members. This is the type of racing Id like to get to do. Think the wife wants to get involved too, which Im super stoked about. Will be much easier to build a road race car when the wife will be getting to drive it too and will approve the purchase of parts for our race car.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LehJe4nNaRo
My wife is even awesomer.
I am at work now riding this storm out and have time to kill, so put this thread together for others who may be thinking about doing this to get my take on it.
Woke up at 3:30 and hit the road, drive was no problem as there was no traffic. Once we arrived. I must say VIR is absolutely incredible. I had never been there before and wow it was an amazing place. I cant wait to go back.
So, here is my take on the Ariel Atom,Spec racer.
Im sure most of you are familiar with the car,and probably all have seen the top gear episode. Well that guy was driving the 320/350 ? hp supercharged 2.0 version. Also who on this site hasnt seen that 650 hp version that some company built....This car was the n/a 2.0 version. Which I was pretty bummed about, but decided to just make the most of it.
The look of the car was obviously awesome, the fact that its basically a cage with suspension and a motor is super neat. I just walked around the car and snapped some pics of my favorite parts of the car.
The seating and steering wheel, were well......racecar.
The brakes and suspenion were sweet.
But my absolute favorite part of the car, was the placement and tightness of the shifter.
Brief summary of what I thought about the car :
Fantastic piece of machinery...The car handled exactly like a go cart, you could feel every bit of feedback from the car, the suspension was tight and clean, the STEERING WAS AMAZING. You could not even tell that this car didnt have power steering, the brakes were non powered as well and you literally could stop on a dime. The gearbox was my favorite, everything felt super smooth and in sync. The car just felt so solid and smooth and worked together incredibly well. If you braked properly, zero understeer. The seats could have used a bit more refinement as they felt like bricks, but I expected that. The intake roaring right next to your head is a great thing to listen to. If I had a crap load of money to spend on one of these for a weekend racer, I would. Just not this version.
I had to cons about the car design, along with some other racers in agreeance.
1. The dead pedal was too close to the clutch and our foot would sometimes get caught up in it for a second causing a delay in up or downshifting..
2. This version of the car is fun, but not overly exciting or as fun as a higher powered version would be....I had a blast, but in all truthfullness, was not overly impressed with the quickness of the car, and its obvious why. It is the lowest power model they have.
My take on the "EXPERIENCE"
meeehh......save your money.
This "experience" is basically for people who have only ever driven a stock low powered car, arent used to much power and who are basically beginner drivers. Although I am no experienced road racer, I have somewhat of a knowledge of how to drive a course, when to brake and hit apex's etc..the only time my pulse even came up was when the guy in front of me spun out while we were going about 40 around a little elevated corner. I had to dodge him without going in the gravel which I was able to do without incident. If you are a current racer, this event is not for you, especially if you already race at VIR (which I will now do whenever I can, you were right Brian, ha)....You only get about 45 minutes of drive time, which felt like 5 minutes, because we were not pushing the limits of these cars and were basically just feeling them out, which at times was quite boring. You have to stay behind the pace car, and well, he was basically sunday driving. It was very slow paced. The only time I was able to really "test" out the car, was during the lead/dropback laps. We stayed at the front of the pack for 2 laps, than dropped back so the next guy could have the open lines to follow the pace car. Each time I was in the lead and dropped back. I would drop back quickly, come to a complete stop and wait for the pace car to dissapear around the corner and all the cars to pass..and then launch it and bang through 1,2,3...which was the funnest part. I was able to get to around 103mph when I was able to do that, but if you didnt do that, you never got above 80mph, as I learned from all the other guys who didnt come to a stop and bang through the gears and let the distance beetween the cars wides so you could actually push it. They never made it above 80 cause of the pace car going to slow and having to keep the 3 car gap. Since you werent able to really "drive" the car, there was no timed laps, there was no passing accept on the designated laps, some people were going really slow cause they have only ever driven stock civics or something and werent accustomed to a car that handled well and were very cautious.
Not only was I not terribly impressed with the power, the track was quite dissapointing. It was so short it was kind of upsetting. We were on the patriot course,not incredibly challenging and since you couldnt push the limits of the car, was just not all what most of the participants were thinking it would be. Although I highly appreciate the chance to drive one of these cars, and definitely love the fact that my wife thought to do this for me...and I had a good amount of fun. It was nothing to really "experience", it wasnt breathtaking or something I care to do again, and I would not reccomend it to anyone that has either raced on a track themselves, or who have ALOT of fun at AIK, besides the shifting, it was about the same to me..accept much more expensive and potentially costly since you are liable for the first 10k worth of damage to a car.
Now let me say that the people running the event were very nice, cool people, they were easy to get along with. Excited to adverise their car to you and wanted to see you have a good time. They provided a helmet, gloves and suit to wear. I personally think this "experience" is sort of a sales pitch, since they make the cars at vir, and have a couple of different versions of the car they were trying to get you to either buy or comeback and spend another 2k dollars on longer, more aggressive racing events with different versions of their cars. Thats their job so I wasnt mad about it or anything.
As you can see in the two following short videos (sorry for the quality and placement, there were not many options to film from)..we werent going very fast, the pace car was simply moving around the course. Although it was fun and something Im glad my wife setup for me to do. I would not do it again. The next time I drive on a road course will be in my own car, or someone elses where I can actually push the car and learn it a bit more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEYs9oinCk8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uknz6hiLmv0
These guys were doing it right...it was open track day or whatnot for the vir members. This is the type of racing Id like to get to do. Think the wife wants to get involved too, which Im super stoked about. Will be much easier to build a road race car when the wife will be getting to drive it too and will approve the purchase of parts for our race car.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LehJe4nNaRo
Last edited by MORE IMPATIENT; 08-27-2011 at 05:43 AM.
08-27-2011, 05:36 AM
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RIP DRAGVA-2016
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Re: My take, on the Ariel Atom.....and the "experience".
man i wondered why you were texting me back at 4am 
too bad i had to leave the area before you got there
too bad i had to leave the area before you got there
08-27-2011, 05:59 AM
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RevTek
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Re: My take, on the Ariel Atom.....and the "experience".
when i called you yesterday and you told me you were at vir playing around with one of these i must admit..... i was pretty fuckin jealous lol
08-27-2011, 06:58 AM
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Re: My take, on the Ariel Atom.....and the "experience".
Its once a month from April till October. Their sold out for this year, though.
Schedual:
- April 30 - Saturday *Sold Out*
- May 21 - Saturday *Sold Out*
- June 25 - Saturday *Sold Out*
- July 23 - Saturday *Sold Out*
- August 26 - Friday *Sold Out*
- September 3 - Saturday *Sold Out*
- October 22 - Saturday *Sold Out*
Schedual:
- April 30 - Saturday *Sold Out*
- May 21 - Saturday *Sold Out*
- June 25 - Saturday *Sold Out*
- July 23 - Saturday *Sold Out*
- August 26 - Friday *Sold Out*
- September 3 - Saturday *Sold Out*
- October 22 - Saturday *Sold Out*
08-27-2011, 07:13 AM
#7
wub wub wub wub
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Re: My take, on the Ariel Atom.....and the "experience".
Awesome. I'm glad you still got to do it despite the outcome.
Am I seeing things, or do you not have to have an instructor ride along? It's solo?
Am I seeing things, or do you not have to have an instructor ride along? It's solo?
08-27-2011, 07:15 AM
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wharlgarbl
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Re: My take, on the Ariel Atom.....and the "experience".
VIR Full is amazing.
08-27-2011, 07:25 AM
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Re: My take, on the Ariel Atom.....and the "experience".
Rick, glad you got to do this man! Totally forgot that you were doing this. Sucks it was kinda a slow paced bullshit lap stuff.
We will get the miata on track at driftwater...
We will get the miata on track at driftwater...