by cvjoint » Thu Dec 06, 2018 12:55 am
If we are going to discuss the overall appeal of the Atom for track use, I will be the first to say it's the freaking best bar none! I wasn't even considering a Radical when I bought the Atom. In fact, I wasn't considering any other car, it's just THE choice for me. It was so on paper, and even more so when I got to drive it.
The Radical design is to use an engine for twice the weight it was designed for, the Atom design is the inverse. Radical owners are so conscious of the short rebuild schedules that they can't afford to run orientation laps, lend the car around the paddock, drive it near redline, or even to the pump! With the Atom it's a challenge, please try to wear out a stock Honda K series, I dare you. Just top up the oil and that's it.
The 4" ground clearance and lack of aero is another polar opposite. I can afford, and regularly do, drive the car past 10/10ths. I save it nearly the entire day, but I do have a spin out once every two track days. There is so much clearance that at worst I had to clean some shrubs out of the tub. The Radicals are very likely to break on off track excursions which is a considerable cost to the point that you drive it differently. For me, there's only white knuckle to the limit and past kinda driving so I'm inclined to never have a car with underbody aero or a low nose.
This third point is a sappy one, but bear with me. Half of the joy of driving to me is working three pedals and an h-pattern box. Few are as honed as the Atom's. The pedals are perfectly placed and weighted for heal-toe, the Honda box is one of the smoothest and most mechanical on the market. Even with the linkage, it's very direct. Sequential and DCT may save a couple of tenths in each lap but it's nothing to write about. That is perhaps the difference between optimal tire PSI and 1 PSI off. You need the man-machine connection to prevail in an Atom, but when you do, the experience is whole.
The Radical may have the revs, but you can match it in song with a naturally aspirated tuned K20a. Some of the midget cars use something like this that revs to over 10K rpm. It sounds better with 2 liters at that rpm to boot!
If we are going to discuss the overall appeal of the Atom for track use, I will be the first to say it's the freaking best bar none! I wasn't even considering a Radical when I bought the Atom. In fact, I wasn't considering any other car, it's just THE choice for me. It was so on paper, and even more so when I got to drive it.
The Radical design is to use an engine for twice the weight it was designed for, the Atom design is the inverse. Radical owners are so conscious of the short rebuild schedules that they can't afford to run orientation laps, lend the car around the paddock, drive it near redline, or even to the pump! With the Atom it's a challenge, please try to wear out a stock Honda K series, I dare you. Just top up the oil and that's it.
The 4" ground clearance and lack of aero is another polar opposite. I can afford, and regularly do, drive the car past 10/10ths. I save it nearly the entire day, but I do have a spin out once every two track days. There is so much clearance that at worst I had to clean some shrubs out of the tub. The Radicals are very likely to break on off track excursions which is a considerable cost to the point that you drive it differently. For me, there's only white knuckle to the limit and past kinda driving so I'm inclined to never have a car with underbody aero or a low nose.
This third point is a sappy one, but bear with me. Half of the joy of driving to me is working three pedals and an h-pattern box. Few are as honed as the Atom's. The pedals are perfectly placed and weighted for heal-toe, the Honda box is one of the smoothest and most mechanical on the market. Even with the linkage, it's very direct. Sequential and DCT may save a couple of tenths in each lap but it's nothing to write about. That is perhaps the difference between optimal tire PSI and 1 PSI off. You need the man-machine connection to prevail in an Atom, but when you do, the experience is whole.
The Radical may have the revs, but you can match it in song with a naturally aspirated tuned K20a. Some of the midget cars use something like this that revs to over 10K rpm. It sounds better with 2 liters at that rpm to boot!