I wonder if the Atom 4 would outpace this on track

[cvjoint]

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!

[cvjoint]

I figured out a method to compare them while keeping other variables fixed, the VIR Full Course. There are many racing series on the that track and layout so it's probably a great track to compare them on:


Radical SR3 1340 RSX (220hp, sequential): 1:52.63

Ariel Atom 3S prototype: 1:58.8 (365 hp, stick, aero?)

Ariel Atom SRA (230 hp, stick, no aero): 2:02.73
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/ ... _email.pdf

[Anon]

Quite a bit of difference almost 6 seconds a lap. Thanks for the videos.

If I were to get a Radical, I would likely go for the RXC Coupe which is a road version, loads of torque and runs the same engine as the Ford GT, and Ford Raptor, the 3.5 ltr ecoboost so no rebuilds needed and it can be taken on the road driven to the track.

An RXC Coupe is around £90k for a almost new one, and over £100k for new, so serious cash. The SR3 is a lot cheaper.

[cvjoint]

Would you be using this for HPDE/open track days?

If so, I would consider that it may just be too fast. My Atom is the 230hp bare bones version and I was still the quickest at the last two HPDE in the fast group. At least there were a few cars within a second or two so I could spar and have some fun. With a car that's well over 10 seconds faster a lap you're going to get lonely very quickly!

I track from time to time with a friend that has an SR3 and he can drive it to its full potential. He will grid first according to lap time, do a clean lap and then get stuck in traffic as he already caught up with the slower cars that entered the track last. There was one LMP car that can hang with him in all of 2018 HPDEs, and he even passed that one.

Perhaps the joy of being the quickest will dwarf being lonely.

[Anon]

I would likely race it in the OSS championships because it unlike the SR3 would probably be easier to run and cheaper - at least the road version with the Ecoboost engine. I've looked at the Radical Challenge but you can only use SR3's in that series and it's quite expensive, unless you run by yourself not in a team.

Finally, I would definitely do seasoned track days. So drive amongst Gt3's, GTR's, lambos etc. I think the Atom is more suited to this format also.

I really don't know yet, I will likely carry on with the 4 but dependent on the cost of that seq gearbox..I keep banging on about this but for me it's a must have!

Cheers
Simon

Would you be using this for HPDE/open track days?

If so, I would consider that it may just be too fast. My Atom is the 230hp bare bones version and I was still the quickest at the last two HPDE in the fast group. At least there were a few cars within a second or two so I could spar and have some fun. With a car that's well over 10 seconds faster a lap you're going to get lonely very quickly!

I track from time to time with a friend that has an SR3 and he can drive it to its full potential. He will grid first according to lap time, do a clean lap and then get stuck in traffic as he already caught up with the slower cars that entered the track last. There was one LMP car that can hang with him in all of 2018 HPDEs, and he even passed that one.

Perhaps the joy of being the quickest will dwarf being lonely.

[cvjoint]

OSS looks like a lot of really fast cars and a lot of variety. I like that a lot.

I am not familiar with the Ecoboost. Is that a proven engine? The road version with the Ecoboost sounds like a bit of a risk to me. With the SR3 at least you know what you are getting yourself into. Some of these engine options appear more robust only one paper. For example, I only got 25 HPDE hours out of the Chevy LT4 but surely most would have expected at least 100 proper race hours out of a production engine. The Ford GT only needs to run for the media a few hours at a time.

The sequential cost for the Atom 4 is a drop in the bucket compared to the costs of running a turbo V6 Radical in a championship.

[Anon]

Yes OSS looks fun. I would not do a full championships mostly because of lack of time, I travel a lot and secondly cost. The V6 Ecoboost is proven at least in stock form. It's from the Ford GT (tuned) and from the Ford Raptor. Radical RPE tune it at Peterborough from the 450bhp in stock form to 670bhp. The RXC is an expensive car to buy, there is no getting away from that.

Another cool (and relatively cheap series) are the Britcar into the night meetings at various tracks in the UK. These meetings seem expensive but the same cost as 4 expensive track days, like Silverstone GP but with much faster cars on track.