jono300

iTrader: (8)

Anyone tell me what the car was that I saw sitting on display in one off the large shopping malls in aberdeen yesterday ?? was described as the quickess production car ever made ??? and with a 0-60 time off under 3 seconds would certainly not argue the fact !!!

know it was uk built and had the name Ariel ???? was basicaly a racing car with lights and mirrors !! but must admitt it certainly looked vEEEEERY NICE !!!!

they were offering raffle tickets for it at £10 a shot so unfortunately it wasnt actually on sale ( well the wife did get here new dress etc after all !! )

anyone tell me the correct name and where I may find out more about this awesome looking / performing machine ??

cheers,
john

Gav

Sounds like an Ariel Atom mate, try HERE!!

Hope this helps,

Gav..

SCOOBY TOWERS

iTrader: (7)

The radical is quicker

CraigH

Not in a straightline it's not.

The Atom is not even close to the factory built Ultima at the moment iirc. 0-60 is meaningless (althought the Ultima does it in 2.8?), 0-100 in 5.5, 1/4 10secs @ 145+

On road tyres, with the factory warrenty 640hp engine, not even the top spec 720hp jobbie.

Ariel have some way to go still.

jono300

iTrader: (8)

Thats the one mate, nice website as well !!!

and trust me the car looks even better in real life than it does in them pictures.

were offering raffle tickets at £10 a shot to win it but passed on that one !!!!

thanks for the info much apprecaitted.

st3ph3n

The Ultima GTR does 0-100-0 in less than 10 seconds. Only production car to break 10. Doesn't even look like it's under any sort of pressure when it's doing it too.

stevencotton

Yeah I've seen the video of it doing that. I don't recommend watching it, it doesn't break a sweat and is a boring and short video

Scooby Roo

Followed one on a track day at Brands last week. I was in a 140bhp Caterham [not mine] and he made mincemeat of me on the straights, though I made up a bit in the corners. They have summit like 220bhp and weigh half a tonne.....maths = quick...not Ultima quick but bloody quick all the same.

Roo

Gav

I think the Atom's are great, just something that looks completely different to anything else out there and bloody shift too never seen an ultima in the flesh but dont think you can compare the two. The Ultima's are just insane

No probs for the site jono300, anytime..

gav..

Gav

Double post

billythekid

The Caterham R500 Evo is up there.

0-60 : 3.2
0-100 : 6.92
0-100-0 10.73 (was the record holder befor the Ultima GTR)


Unless I am mistaken the fastest production car 0-60mph is 3.07 secs.... Ford RS2000 Evo.. I was not aware of any production car breaking that since?

Dazza's-STi

Not driven the Ultima but have the Atom,

But one thing, its a second to 100 slower at 6.8, however, around any road or track the atom will be quicker... simply becouse it corners better than it goes... I was simply stunned at the way it goes around bends...
I very very much doubt the Ultima will be as sorted handling wise than the Atom, the atom is purly designed for handling... the best people in the business have worked on sorting it and it shows...

Daz

FASTER MIKE!!

the rs200 evo was the quickest 0-60 in 3.16sec's which was an average over 2 runs, not sure if it still stands though

The Chief

Isn't the Radical quicker round a track????

Gav

Radical's probably are quicker round a track, especially the new sr8? with the V8 engine in (the one that just broke the Nurburgring lap record)

Would be interesting to see how fast the top spec Atom would be round there, anybody know a time set or anything???

Gav..

Jeff Wiltshire

Ultima will kill a Atom round a track simply because the aerodynamics/downforce from the Ultimas splitter/diffuser/wings. Another Lee Noble design.

cat7

the ring then yes, roung rockingham...no

brybusa

gav

What time did the radical go round in?

Gav

6 mins 55 secsCLICKY HERE MATE

Gav..

hades

As was mentioned above, Lee Noble was initially responsible for the Ultima. There is no question that when set-up properly, on decent rubber etc (same proviso's you'd need to apply to the Atom) they will also out-corner almost anything. It is pretty much a GT racing car for the road, so is also "purely designed for handling".

It won't help that they do weigh somewhere around the ton, i.e. much heavier than an Atom, albeit very light by most other standards. On tight twisty tracks, I'd be curious to see Ultima vs Atom, the lighter weight might just swing things Aerial's way. On faster sweepy tracks, the aerodynamics and power means I'd be amazed if the Atom got close to a well driven sorted Ultima

The Radical SR8 with the sub 7 minute Nurburgring trip is another step on in track car terms from pretty much anything road legal every built, I can't honestly think of any track where I'd expect it to lose to an Atom (or anything much else you care to name!)

CraigH

Atoms aren't "that" quick on track. No matter what spec, certainly not Radical speed anyway unless they're hugely modified.
Unless it's a tight, twisty track, I doubt most Ultima owners would be particularly bothered by any Atoms.

wez_sti

topgear suggests otherwise!! 0.3 quicker than a carerra gt, i'd say it was THAT quick!!!!!

.................................................. ...................

1 Maserati MC12 1.18.9
2 Ferrari Enzo 1.19.0
3 Ariel Atom 1.19.5
4 Porsche Carerra GT 1.19.8
5 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 1.20.9
6 Ford GT 1.21.9
7 Porsche GT3 RS 1.22.3

Vlad the Impaler

LOL

And if a well sorted Radical or Ultima cannot knock a few seconds off those top gear times then I'm the pope.........

hades

IIRC - didn't a radical end up doing something like a 1:14 round there, before they decided it was "sort of cheating" and took the time away as no-one else got close? That would have been an SR3, not the SR8 either.

I do also seem to remember there was a point several years ago (i.e. pre radical, I guess) where an ultima held the lap record for road legal cars on road legal tyres for a rather significant number of UK circuits.

dtriggs

The Ultimas/Radicals havent made it to the Topgear board as far as I am aware as they dont pass the simple test of being able to drive over a speed hump and therefore are not 'Road' cars in their opinion. The Atom is. The Atom was also the fastest 0-60 in the Time challenge at 2.91 secs I think, but was disqualified as the tyres were considered race tyres...but since then Avon have been selling the same tyre for the road !!

hades

I may be wrong, but I thought the speed hump test came about following the radical slaughtering the best time for "proper road cars" on the lap?

If not, just compare things with the Carrera GT at the Nurburgring. Even if we simplistically assume that the Atom would just pip the GT on the 'ring like it does on the TG track, the SR8 will still take about 10% less time for a lap, which is a massive margin. I also have a sneaky suspsicion that the Caterham R500 EVO was noticeably quicker on track than the Carrera?

Don't get me wrong, the Atom is properly quick, on a track against a fairly fast road car (which is what I'd call an STi PPP) there would not be any contest whatsoever. It's just for raw pace round a lap, things like the radical are in a different league, and a properly sorted Ultima on many tracks would be getting towards the pace of the radical as well IMHO.

I also seem to remember that the same ultima that did the mental 0-100-0 test also hold (held?) a world record for sustained lateral 'G' as well, so there's no doubting it has cornering ability.

Dazza's-STi

Agree to a point... but lateral g is not an indication of how a car handles, i could set up a BMW 330 to give the same lateral g but it wouldn't handle then... simple... big tyres, very very stiff setup, wider track and lots of poitive camber and presto in a circle it would pull high gee... try driving it though and Ooops...
The radical is a fast car, but having read an autocar test where they drive all the trackday cars around scotland somewhere on the road, then there almost unusable... with the bike engine stuff there just too peaky...apart from the R500 and the Atom then forget it in terms of a fast usable road car..

I bet the ultima's a blast though, would defo have one... if i could stretch to 60+k... I'd have a R500Evo too but they only made about 3 or something.. + even the normal r500 is very highly srtung... so the option is Atom 300
wich for me with 95% road bias and having driven it on the road is just what i'm looking for... with the charger it got huge low down go and its simple to look after Jap Honda CTR lump... no problem...
Even the 245 onei drove last was mental, after getting out of the scoob, the amount of instant acceleration is mind boggleing. I set off from a junction, in first and even a little thottle input launched you up the road, took me a while to get used to... but WOW did it go...

dtriggs

Hades - whether the speed hump test came about before or after the Ultima had gone round the track is immaterial. The point being that TG dont consider them road cars, and to my mind I agree with TG and feel the usability is the key here. As Dazza says it's about whether they can be used 90 pct on the road and from what I read that's not really an option.

The Ariel and Caterham are in practical terms as fast as one another. I dont fit into the Caterham though...so it's the Atom for me. A 220bhp is the plan I think.

hades

If you're buying one to use on a regular basis on the road, I'd agree. Mind you, there's a lot of people who would argue that a complete lack of bodywork / weather protection a la Atom compromises the road usability - it's up to you where you want to draw the line. If (as appeared to be the case earlier in the thread), there is a debate about which is quicker out of Radical/Ultima/Atom, the speed hump test itself is the immaterial thing.

Also worth noting I am not aware of the Ultima ever trying the lap time or the speed hump test - no idea if it could get over a hump with suitable (less track oriented) suspension / aerodynamic settings, but I wouldn't be surprised if it could. I did say it was the radical which had failed the test . .

I am not in any way criticising the Atom. It is a very nice bit of kit, seriously fast by any normal standards (in supercharged guise particularly), and I'd be more than happy to have one sat in the garage! I'm sure it's also capable of going much quicker than any "normal" track day driver - would be able to use. (Having done a couple of track days in a 300bhp/ton Fisher Fury, I know I didn't get near the ultimate capabilities of that; I also know the serious Atoms are quicker than that Fury in a straight line) All I was saying was that those people earlier in the thread who may have been suggesting that an Atom would beat sorted Ultimas and even radicals round a track are deluded.