Ariel Atom Honda VTEC Powered Sports Car

The road curves seductively up and to the right. It is constructed from smooth tarmac, gleaming in the lunchtime sun. Good, no traction issues there - nothing to cause the rear end to break away suddenly and spit me into the concrete posts that sit beyond the corner.

My seat is already vibrating under me due to the rose jointed suspension transmitting the road surface faithfully to my butt, and when I change down into third, and then down into second, the engine joins in the vibration, making me fear for my future as a father - there's a whole lot of shakin' going on.

But now I'm on the corner, lifting off the throttle a touch to let the front tyres - shrouded only by the most minimal of mud guards - grip tight to the road and guide the car into the corner. Mid corner now and I'm beginning to feed in the power, treating the throttle like a very delicate lever rather than an on/off button.

Abrupt changes in steering and throttle inputs are a definite no-no in a car like this. Feeding the power now, feeling the rear tyres begin to slip, transitioning smoothly into the mildest of oversteer and I hold it there, until the road ahead straightens out. Straight now, and the throttle goes all the way to the aluminium firewall.

The air intake for the engine - situated just to the left of your head -emits a roaring scream as air is pummelled and sucked into the gaping maw of the four cylinder engine. The thrust is constant now, a force that presses you hard into the unpadded plastic seat. Up into third and repeat the process.

Then brake very hard, because the speed limit is 100km/h and it doesn't look good when you rocket onto the motorway off the on ramp at speeds appreciably above that figure.

Welcome to the world of the Ariel Atom 2, where the laws of physics and distance are warped beyond recognition, a world where passing distances reveal themselves in the merest stretch of unoccupied road, where indicating while overtaking is a lost cause because the entire action is carried out in one flash of the indicator out and one flash back in.

This is a very, very fast car.

And yet looking at the engine spec you wouldn't think so. The four pot engine comes directly out of an Integra Type R, which means a healthy but not amazing 162kW. It does rev to well above 8000rpm but that's not the reason you'd be able to keep up with a Ferrari Enzo when the traffic light turns green.

Weight is the enemy of acceleration, and since the Atom 2 weighs only 520kg that means a power to weight ratio of 430bhp/tonne. That's a big number and you need big balls to drive this car to its limits.

The Atom 2 comes from the UK, home of the track day car. The police have become so strict over there, and there is so much traffic that the only place you can go to enjoy yourself is on the track, and so plenty of small volume car makers have decided to build cars you can conceivably drive to the race circuit to thrash.

I say conceivably, because it's a stretch of the imagination to see the Atom 2 as an everyday car. For a start there's no roof, but then again there are no doors and no body sides. There's no air con, in fact no ventilation except for what blows over and around you and certainly no stereo - thanks to the air intake being next to your head it's hard enough hearing what your passenger is screaming over the sound.

But it is actually possible to drive the car in town. The clutch engages sharply, but once you're over that you can get a smooth start every time, and once moving the light kerb weight means that you really don't need to worry about what gear you're in. You can do 50km/h in sixth if you really feel like it.

The Atom 2 is constructed from a strong alloy cage that bears more than a passing relationship to a superbike frame. It arches over the 'cabin' and carries the front suspension. At the rear the engine is attached to the rear of the chassis and the suspension itself is attached, race car style to the engine itself.

The six speed manual gearbox is likewise carried over from the Type R, and in this guise there is minimal distance between the gear gates, which means that until you get used to it the odd missed gearchange is a way of life. Once used to the gearbox though the gearchanges come almost instantly, snapping into place and enabling the driver to enjoy an almost never-ending stream of abusive acceleration.

The only creature comfort you have is a one piece plastic moulded seat that also forms the passenger seat. Different sized drivers have a bitch of a time swapping over because the entire seat has to be unbolted and shifted within the alloy cage.

This demonstrator from the importers - Open Wheeler Imports - is fitted with the optional track suspension, which allows you to change all sorts of settings for best behaviour while on the track. The standard car, which is priced at NZ$74,700 comes with the standard non-adjustable suspension, but as long as it's the same setting as that on the demo there won't be a problem with accommodating New Zealand roads.

There's enough absorbance to wash out most of the horrendous road surface, while retaining more than enough stiffness in cornering. The Atom 2 refuses to roll at all in corners, which makes for some very odd cornering shots - it doesn't look like the car is moving at all, even when it is belting through the bend at a hair whitening speed.
With that much power going through the modestly size rear tyres its not surprising that oversteer is there for the taking - it's not surprising that the Atom 2 behaves just like a Formula Ford adapted for two people would, although its not nearly as nervous on the limit. And regardless of whether you enjoy sliding the car around there remains the sheer breathtaking power of the car, more akin to being shot out of a cannon than anything with four wheels and an engine.

If NZ$74,700 is a little too much for you Ariel does do a lower powered Atom 2 based around the 116kW engine from the standard Integra. Don't be fooled though, because even this lower powered NZ$67,200 Atom 2 has a better power to weight ratio than a Porsche 911 Turbo. It's amazing what you can do when you weigh next to nothing at all, isn't it?

In fact there's so little to the Atom 2 that you could easily think that it's not worth the money, but when you look at it from a bang for your bucks viewpoint there isn't anything else in New Zealand that comes even close.