500 horsepower V8-powered Ariel Atom unveiled
The V8 Caterham was just unveiled in the past week, so naturally we can expect other lightweight track car manufacturers to respond, but I didn’t expect it this fast!
Ariel has its own monster V8-engineed Atom in the works and it will go on sale in Spring 2008. Surprise, surprise - it’s powered by the same 2.4 liter 40 valve V8 engine as the Caterham RST-V8! The Ariel Atom V8 is available with the supercharged version of the Russell Savory bike-derived V8 engine, putting out 500 horses at 10,000rpm and 406Nm of torque at 8,500rpm.
500 horses is a big difference from the second most powerful Atom which has 300 horses. “This is an interesting project for us and an experimental departure from what we normally produce. For a few customers the Atom 500 will be the ultimate expression of lightweight performance and represents the outer limits of whats achievable in a road-registered car,” says Ariel boss Simon Saunders.
This is not the first V8-powered Ariel Atom. Sometime back, Dennis Palatov plonked in a 2.8 liter V8 derived from two inline-4 Suzuki Hayabusa engines into his Ariel Atom. It produced 400 horses at 10,000rpm.
I cannot wait for foreign publications to do shoot-out reviews comparing both the Caterham Seven and Ariel Atom powered by the same RST-V8 engine!
February 29, 2008 @ 10:31 am
Crazy buggers!!!!
500 horses dragging a tin can…..
Damn…I like it!!!!
February 29, 2008 @ 10:37 am
wow its used hayabusa engine meh
February 29, 2008 @ 1:00 pm
wheelspin at any gears.. nice~
February 29, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
this car is my favourite!
February 29, 2008 @ 8:08 pm
if comparing this beast with its rival caterham i will definitely choose this Atom…sexy, fierce and a lotsa power….caterham is ok but its a bit like a clssic f1 car
March 1, 2008 @ 12:39 pm
this is fantastic! a supercharged V8. This also means that the Caparo T1 is suddenly not so special anymore! I definitely prefer Ariel Atom over the dangerous Caparo. The Atom will most likely have a better suspension setup and relies less on aero to go fast.
March 1, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
i luv dis car…sweet
March 1, 2008 @ 11:36 pm
so big engine ?
March 2, 2008 @ 10:58 pm
Ill prefer to wait for what KTM X-bow can offer…hey i heard the offering DSG gbox
March 3, 2008 @ 1:59 am
Who can drive this car? I don’t think it is safe at all.
March 4, 2008 @ 8:31 am
power!!!