"Atom is sold in North America for exclusive use on a racetrack"

[Alec]

I see that the Atom is still being described for sale in America as a racecar. 

I came across this article which appears to be an interview with Mark Swain . . . .

"Power, weight, price and handling make this Atom a charged up racer"

Wasn't it statements like this from Brammo that prevented some owners from registering their Atoms, or at least making it more difficult?

[silver]

I just read the article..............that sentence is not quoted so who knows where the journalist actually got that statement.

BUT, that IS the kind of verbiage they removed from their website so as not to cause further issues in the US with insurance / registration.

I don't remember this being a problem with Brammo but Brammo cars did come with a sticker on the firewall that said "for off road use only" which was promptly removed 

[Heywood-Yablowme]

"Racecar" spelled backwards is.."Racecar"...

The Atom can be a very good racecar.  When raced...

Why not press the racing abilities of a car? Think of your own British history for doing so...and with good reason.

Sports car,racecar, hot rod, ultra light performance vehicle, muscle car..supercar..whatever it is called..in the end it is still an Ariel Atom.    (best damn car ever made!)

Some states in the USA just have their heads up their asses when it comes to accepting the Atom as a "normal" car...       One must either find a way to accept these restrictive regulations,change them,or move.

brammo was never as enthusiastic about the Atom as TMI. Never! Not even at the beginning. It was all about how much money they could make.

TMI is demonstrating the Atom to be much more than a road "oddity". It is a well designed, purpose built car to have FUN with... some people will never understand that concept...no matter where the car is driven.

TMIATi builds them right in the paddock area of one of the greatest racetracks in the USA.  

The reviewer is from Canada,and his statement about the Atom being exclusively sold for racetracks in North America should have said "is sold exclusively for racetrack use in Canada." 

The Atom IS road legal in many states in the USA.

[Terry Kennedy]

[quote="MadMaxAtom and company"]
brammo was never as enthusiastic about the Atom as TMI. Never! Not even at the beginning. It was all about how much money they could make.[/quote]

Even as someone who was betrayed more than most by Brammo, I really have to disagree with that statement.

When I first visited Brammo, it was 7 people in the back of the science museum. Everybody was very enthusiastic about the car. Even later on, when the company had grown immensely, that was still the case - watch the Woolery video again.

I feel that Craig dropped out of site because he felt he needed to hide from customers, not because he no longer cared about the car.

Brammo did make the same mistake that most new businesses do - having the mindset that they'll be rolling in money just because they have a popular product. In Brammo's case, this was reinforced by the huge order backlog generated by the Top Gear video.

[silver]

Tom and Joe were atom lunatics.....I don't think Mark had the pleasure of working with them back in the day.....they both left Brammo before they went down in flames, I prefer to think that they saw the writing on the walls and left due to not wanting to be associated with what Brammo would become.

Joe and Tom were both involved in the 300 fix as well and Tom especially put a lot of efforts into trying to come up with a solution.......................personally I think they could not come up with a solution simply because they had no flow of the coolant for the intercooler therefore all their testing was useless...........just my opinion

[Gage]

I vote Terry Kennedy as the official U.S. Atom Historian.

Also, I had more then a few great conversations with Tom about the Atoms.  It can never be said that he was not enthusiastic.  And at least a few of the guys working on the Atom assembly line considered it a dream job.  I also talked with a couple of the engineers... who loved the cars, and just itched to make more improvements that they kicked around on their own pc drawing boards.  I agree that there was plenty of enthusiasm early on.

I agree with Max on DMV regulations.  Far too many state governments are sitting on their own hands, blindfolded, trying to say the alphabet backwards, and make everyone else do the same thing.  The incredible hypocrisy of the legality of Motorcycles over four wheeled Ariel Atoms is stupidity on a criminal level.    Simply an opinion. 

I would have to move if I were in one of the backward, ignorant, states that allow people to legally drive motorcycles, but deem an Atom not roadworthy. 
Stop ranting.

Someone should write that reporter to inform him that most Atoms in North America are street legal and driven on public roads, in non brain dead states of course. 

[1965Cobra427]

Enthusiasm was palpable in the early days. Melody was the first point of contact, a young lady whose daily transportation is a Hyabusa. She was a real pleasure to talk with and represented Brammo better than any of the 'sales' folks who followed. Tom, Brian, Joe, Jacob, Rich and others were over the top passionate about the Atom. Throughout 2005 and the first half of 2006 Craig was an Atom evangelist. I'll give him this - even in the earliest interviews, he stated that the Atom was a stepping stone to developing vehicle manufacturing talents and resources. For him it was a means to an end. Passion and enthusiasm were not in short supply until Craig's interests went elsewhere and the rest of the crew found they did not have the backing to solve car-owners problems. One by one they became frustrated and exited. There is a lot more to the story, but I don't want to jack the thread any further that I have already.

[Heywood-Yablowme]

The buck stops somewhere,and it is Craig that ran the ship at brammo motorsports. I absolutely did NOT mean to say ANY of the help were not enthusiastic about the Atom, to the contrary. Unfortunately,it was Craigs company to run. He saw minimal returns on his investments,problems with quality control and development costs escalating.He was looking for greener pastures.$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Meanwhile,,he was telling future and present Atom owners that the sky was blue,when in fact he was the first rat off the sinking boat,in a manner of speaking.
It is THIS lack of respect to Atom owners I find most apalling,and still do to this date.He could have been up front about what was going on..instead,he took the cowardice way out and hid the truth till the end.

" I feel that Craig dropped out of site because he felt he needed to hide from customers, not because he no longer cared about the car."

Are you kidding me with that statement? HIDE from customers?? WTF is THAT all about? Customers ARE what the product is all about.You alienate them,you are doomed....and so is the product,no matter what you would rather happen. Hide from customers...HA!

Totally disgusted with that mentality.

I wouldn't buy a $100 bill off Craig for a penny!   

Yes,I own three of his companies products,and think they are excellent vehicles...but the manner in which he dumped the Atom and it's owners was absolutely unacceptable,peroid.

Craig will always be a piece of sh1t in my book,and anything he involves himself with in the future.. I call it like I see it. Out to make a buck,everything else be damned!

The best thing that could have happened to the Ariel Atom was TMIATi taking over production and representation of the Atom in North America.

[Terry Kennedy]

Unfortunately,it was Craigs company to run. He saw minimal returns on his investments,problems with quality control and development costs escalating.He was looking for greener pastures.$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Neither of us have all of the facts, and those that do aren't telling. Most of his development costs were spent before he delivered his first Atom. It is true (according to various press reports at the time) that he saw the Atom as something to get his production capacity going while still developing his supercar. But I feel he was genuinely excited about the Atom and what he could bring to the table. I spent several hours with him in May 2006 and he was very excited about delivering the car.

I don't know what happened at the end - the supercar project just died and he started going on about electric motorcycles. I don't know if this was an environmental awakening on his part or just another product he could make after unloading the Atom tooling and responsibilities on TMI. I don't know that anyone outside of his family really knows for sure.

Meanwhile,,he was telling future and present Atom owners that the sky was blue,when in fact he was the first rat off the sinking boat,in a manner of speaking.
It is THIS lack of respect to Atom owners I find most apalling,and still do to this date.He could have been up front about what was going on..instead,he took the cowardice way out and hid the truth till the end.

Even in August of 2007, Brammo didn't know what the components of an Atom cost them (per verbal and email discussions with Craig and Joe). Thus, they probably had no idea if they were even making money on each car. The later price increases show evidence of this as well. By August 2007, they had discovered that orders weren't coming in as fast as they could build cars. In my opinion, this was due to a combination of no marketing and the price increases. I believe Craig was also unhappy about a number of things in his license agreement with Ariel UK. All of those put together meant that each day Brammo continued to build Atoms, they lost more money. Hence the lock stock & barrel deal that brought the Atom to TMI.

" I feel that Craig dropped out of site because he felt he needed to hide from customers, not because he no longer cared about the car."

Are you kidding me with that statement? HIDE from customers?? WTF is THAT all about? Customers ARE what the product is all about.You alienate them,you are doomed....and so is the product,no matter what you would rather happen. Hide from customers...HA!

First, I can't believe I said "out of site" instead of "out of sight". Must be premature senility. Anyway...

Brammo was getting (deservedly) raked over the coals about the "300HP" performance issue. By the time this became a major issue, GM had already announced that the LSJ was being discontinued. Thus, GM had even less reason to work w/ Brammo on the tune than before. This left Brammo having to try lots of stuff pretty much on their own. Many 300 owners were calling and emailing Craig to ask where their missing HP was and when it would be delivered. At the same time, Craig was traveling and negotiating with Ariel UK. After that issue, the next thing was the rod end issue. Brammo didn't have rod ends to send out and instead said they'd reimburse customers.

Don't get me wrong - I'm *not* happy with the way I was treated by Brammo, going all the way back to September 2006. I treated the 2006 incident as a one-off and I flew back to Brammo several times to talk to them about how the car could be improved. I also took everyone at Brammo out for food & drinks at their favorite watering hole. I expected better of Craig and the company than what I got in return.

[silver]

well since the 300hp issue is a dead horse it's finally fairly clear that the supercharger itself can't efficiently produce 300hp without MAJOR intercooling and Brammo did not install the pump in the correct orientation which lead to many systems with no flow in the first place.

No matter how good your tune is if you're heatsoaking you'll lose any gains and then some, that's the bottom line.  You can replace the exhaust, intake, pulley, and tune it, all your going to do is get at best Shinoo's results, which still is not 300 hp.

I can't say what the solution should have been back then because we couldn't pinpoint the problem, but I'm also still very suspect about them claiming to have put down 280whp from an ecotec atom, which they told me and the others on the consumer side of the 300hp "repair team" on a phone conference call.  What did they have in that atom that could make a dyno show 280whp......unobtanium?

[DarthChicken]

Again?  Guys.. let it go. 

Where is that "beating a dead horse" gif?

[silver]

hehe

[atomizer]

...Thanks for the memories!

[Gage]

[quote="DarthChicken"]
Again?  Guys.. let it go. 

Where is that "beating a dead horse" gif?

[/quote]

No one forgets getting conned and robbed.  However a wise man doesn't waste energy on lost causes.  =0)

[DarthChicken]

exactly.