Video: Ariel Atom 500 V8 review

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By Brett Davis | September 17th, 2010

The lucky guys at Autocar have been kind enough to provide us all with a full road test review of the brand new Ariel Atom 500 V8, and they’ve just thrown it up on YouTube.

We only mentioned the car’s existence last week, but it’s already on the road.

In case you missed it or just plain forgot, this thing has, if you peel back the carbon fibre covers, a 354kW 3.0-litre V8 nestled behind the driver which was created by grafting two Suzuki Hayabusa engines together.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Hayabusa, it’s basically Suzuki’s fastest super bike capable of speeds well above 300km/h; hence the name which is adopted from a bird famous for reaching such speeds.

So two of these engines together in a car weighing around 500kg? It ought to go like, well, it goes like stink…

http://www.caradvice.com.au Anthony Crawford

Incredible – and those shifts!
Michael Sutcliffe

We’re entering a new era of road-going performance, previously only available to the ultra-wealthy. Can’t wait until one of these costs AUD$50K. It is coming soon.

Luke Skywalker

Don’t know about you, but I’d consider a car which costs 150,000 pounds (about $250,000) as belonging in the ultra-wealthy category.
Sam

dont see it coming to australia. itll never get past adr’s unfortunately. if it does itll be track only like that lotus 2eleven

http://www.caradvice.com.au/83903/video-ariel-atom-500-v8-review/ Shane

Wow, if the old one ripped Jeremy Clarkson’s face off, I wonder what this one would do!
I think your right Michael, it won’t be too long before something like this will cost $50K.

Andrew

Well I hope you guys are right, but I just don’t see it happen. Why should these cars get any cheaper? They don’t use any new rapidly developing technologies, so there’s no reason to expect any cost savings from that angle.

They are however becoming increasingly irrelevant for the big manufacturers because more than ever before, the key words nowadays are safety and low emissions, not performance. So it is highly unlikely that Toyota will start turning them out in mass volume and enthusiast vehicles like these are bound to remain a niche product from niche manufacturers like Ariel or even KTM. As such, why should they get any cheaper than they are at the moment?
Finally I just want to point out that far from getting cheaper, this Ariel costs well over twice as much as the previous Ariel. So where do you see this trend towards 50 grand, exactly?

Michael Sutcliffe

For the same reason motorcyles got cheaper and you can now buy something capable of 300km/h for $20K or so. You can still buy a $100K exotic rare ‘luxury’ model, but that hasn’t stopped the lower segment getting cheaper. The higher segment of the market is driven by luxury and exclusivity, the lower section of the market by making more sales. As Ferrari says: “we want to make as many cars as people want less one”. Exclusivity and high prices is part of the brand. That doesn’t apply to the Suzuki Hyabusa; they just want sales.

These types of cars i.e. Aerial Atom, KTM X-bow etc will feature in the non-exclusive part of the market., and will be driven by low prices to make sales, regardless of how they are branded at the top end of the market. That will create the trend toward $50 grand.

However, the point is what we have here is a technological change. We’re seeing power to weight ratios like F1 cars – greater than motorcycle power to weight ratios – combined with the advantages of a car in terms of braking and handling, in a package that can be manufactured relatively cheaply like a motorcycle (compared to something that can’t be made cheaply like a Ferrari). This hasn’t been done before except in a few little nichey kit cars.

Andrew

Yes, but the statement that those cars “will feature in the non-exclusive part of the market and will be driven by low prices to make sales” is more of wishful thinking on your part than a fact. How do you explain they plan a run of 23 of these machines then? It’s not like they are limited by the availability of Hayabusa engines!

Truth is, these cars are not expensive to make – but there is no incentive for their manufacturers to push for lower prices and higher volumes.

Michael Sutcliffe

BTW, you can buy the previous 2005 model Aerial Atom, which is still pretty impressive, for around $50K second hand, right now in the UK.
Devil’s Advocate

I wonder how the engine was modified to get the extra 400cc capacity as 1299cc plus 1299cc does not equal 3000cc! Maybe it has a longer stroke from the flat plane crank. That is still a large increase from just stroke alone. Maybe I am looking into it too much!!!
crouchy

I wonder if he can legally drive without his glasses?
Wayne Kerr

Looks more fun than sex!

Radbloke

I think you might be doing it wrong.

golfer

OR…..
as his name suggests, doing it with himself!

golfer

“…….utterly, utterly brilliant.”

This represents what is wrong with the world.
The Brits have a handful of sunny, clear days a year where you could put this thing to good, proper use.
Australia by contrast has a handful of days where you’d rather not take it out, yet we will never see these on our roads.
I love our country, it is just our governments and draconian laws that could do with shooting. Call it the ultimate bureacracy come nanny state. We cannot trust our citizens with real sports cars, much less guns.

Shak

Thats why the Chinese and Indian system of Democracy is so much better. if the government knows something is going to benefit the country, they will do it come hell or high water. Unlike in Oz where you have to avoid offending so many interest groups and overly PC people.