Looks like I'm getting one!

[Tim Arnold]

I've spoken to Simon at Atom earlier this evening. One of our commercial partners has asked me to order an Atom 300. All we have to do is decide on the exact spec and we will get it ordered. The purpose is too rent it out for track days and instruction... which is my department!

[badge]

I know I'll just be the first of many to say............A F**king 300 for teaching?????????? Good luck!

[Driver]

Congrats!, regardless of the spec I'm sure you will enjoy it tremendously. I could even see reasons for you to "borrow' it for trips to the store and 'round town here and there.

[Bruce Fielding]

[quote="badge"]
I know I'll just be the first of many to say............A F**king 300 for teaching?????????? Good luck!
[/quote]

That was the first thought that went through my mind!

[FAST BUCK]

Well done Tim,  i'll have to book somemore lessons with you soon.

[Tim Arnold]

[quote="badge"]
I know I'll just be the first of many to say............A F**king 300 for teaching?????????? Good luck!
[/quote]

It's just a car! I've instucted in cars much more powerful than an Atom 300!

[quote="Bruce Fielding"]
That was the first thought that went through my mind!
[/quote]

I did suggest that a 245 might be more suitable, but our man wants a 300! Really though, I don't know what the big deal is. All you do with any very powerful car is build up to speed slowly. It the pupil listens to the instructor and does what they are told to do there shouldn't be a problem. I might suggest we have a kill button fitten though, just as a safety precaution. We have them in some of the raceing school cars - Elises / Ferrari's - it's just a button the instructor  holds in his hand on the end of a lead to the ignition. It makes the rev limiter cut in at a much lower level, say 2000 rpm. So we can slow the car down if/when we need to.

However, I suspect we will use the 300 more for fast rides on corporate days than for instructing.

[Atom120]

[quote="Tim Arnold"]
One of our commercial partners has asked me to order an Atom 300.  The purpose is too rent it out for track days and instruction... which is my department!
[/quote]

Why? Why would any sensible "commercial partner" go for a 300 for instruction? What benefit is a 300 going to offer over a 245, or 160 even, in terms of teaching people how to drive?

In fact, the 300 makes no sense at all - its got so much torque that you barely need the gears - it teaches you very little about how to drive something properly. And its far, far more likely to get crashed than a lower powered Atom - the accident figures speak for themselves!

[Tim Arnold]

[quote="Atom120"]
Why? Why would any sensible "commercial partner" go for a 300 for instruction? What benefit is a 300 going to offer over a 245, or 160 even, in terms of teaching people how to drive?[/quote]

One who's previous track day tool was a Porsche GT3 Cup.

[quote="Atom120"]In fact, the 300 makes no sense at all - its got so much torque that you barely need the gears - it teaches you very little about how to drive something properly. And its far, far more likely to get crashed than a lower powered Atom - the accident figures speak for themselves!
[/quote]

I completely disagree with you for that precise reason. If you can teach someone to use the smooth, progressive steering and throttle inputs (and braking) to stay in control of a car with huge amounts of power/torque it will teach them a lot more about driving and car control.

But having said that, as I have already stated <read up> the 300 will more likely be used for demo's and fast rides. When teaching  I wouldn't put a raw novice straight in the 300, I would put them through a saloon car like our BMW first, then perhaps an Elise or something - then let them drive the 300.

FFS! There are a few race schools that offer an F1 experience where customers get classroom instruction, track instruction in a saloon, then lapping sessions in a Formula Ford, Formula three and eventually an F1 car, all on the same day! And in the single seaters they don't have an instructor sat next to them! The F1 car might be an older one and it might even be restricted a bit, but it will still be immensley faster than an Atom 300!

[sebby]

The F1 cars on these days are limited, it's nowhere near as powerful as the real thing. It may be more powerful than a 300, but not "immensely".

[Bruce Fielding]

Well done Tim for taking the plunge and getting his own Atom. I find in general that owning an Atom is a mellowing experience! If you check out the posts on here you'll note that most of the owners are much more chilled than those who don't have one in the garage.

Not aimed at Tim, but as a rule, over time an owner gets used to the awsome performance of the Atom. So when offering 'thrill/fast rides' one is tempted to thrill onself (which is interesting for the driver), whereas the passenger would be pooping themselves at considerably less than full chat. I learned this very early on. Laps that I though of as relaxing and a bit of sideways fun had passengers screaming like girlies!

As for which is best to instruct in, I think both Tim and Andy are correct. For a complete novice I think a 300 is too much, but for someone with experience wanting to hone technique, with proper, qualified instruction and a kill switch a 300 would be fine.

[Tim Arnold]

[quote="sebby"]
The F1 cars on these days are limited, it's nowhere near as powerful as the real thing. It may be more powerful than a 300, but not "immensely".
[/quote]

Well I would call a car weighing 600 kgs (with driver) and 650 bhp on tap in restricted form, immensley more powerful than one weighing 600kgs (without driver) and only 300 bhp!

[sebby]

Fair enough

[Tim Arnold]

[quote="Bruce Fielding"]
Well done Tim for taking the plunge and getting his own Atom. I find in general that owning an Atom is a mellowing experience! If you check out the posts on here you'll note that most of the owners are much more chilled than those who don't have one in the garage. [/quote]

Just to clarify a point, this won't be MY car it will belong to one of the team's commercial partner's (sponsor for want of a better discription!). It will be on permanent loan to the team for corporate, track day, instructing and demo use, but I will have regular use of it for the business and occasional road use.  :)

[quote="Bruce Fielding"]Not aimed at Tim, but as a rule, over time an owner gets used to the awsome performance of the Atom. So when offering 'thrill/fast rides' one is tempted to thrill onself (which is interesting for the driver), whereas the passenger would be pooping themselves at considerably less than full chat. I learned this very early on. Laps that I though of as relaxing and a bit of sideways fun had passengers screaming like girlies![/quote]

I find that a reallly fast (qualifying) lap isn't as effective for a fast ride thrill. It's too smooth and precise and although quick it's not spectacular. That's why at race schools we drive at about 8 - 9/10ths (partly to allow a safety margin) and slide the cars about a lot.

"passengers screaming like girlies" reminded me of a ride I gave to a (very pretty young) girl (23 - I'm not Gary Glitter!) in a Civic Type R at Oulton. I chucked it into Cascades sideways at 100 mph and she shreiked out, "F*********K MEEEEEEEE!!!!" I said I was busy but offered to pull over!

[AtomFun]

I fancy 23 year old girls and I'm not Gary Glitter either! He likes them 10 years less than that!!

[Bruce Fielding]

[quote="Tim Arnold"]
Just to clarify a point, this won't be MY car it will belong to one of the team's commercial partner's (sponsor for want of a better discription!). [/quote]

So this means you will only be chilled some of the time