Ariel Atom V8- it’ll tear your face off!

Ariel are to build the Ariel Atom V8 - with 500bhp!We all know by now that the stunning Ariel Atom is a monster car in the performance stakes. Whether you’re driving the standard or the supercharged version, its mammoth performance and four-wheeled motor bike-like build, mean you end up looking like something from the Black Lagoon (remember the TG vid of Clarkson’s face – actually, a slight improvement, we thought!).

But now Ariel has gone barking mad and decided that what the mighty Ariel Atom needs is more power. More Power?! That’s the last thing it needs, but the best thing it could get!

Ariel are building their own V8 unit, which is reported to weigh in at less than 90kg, despite being a 3.0 litre, 500 bhp powerhouse. It will thrust the Atom to the horizon so quickly that nothing will be able to keep up (2.5 seconds 0-60mph) and on to 100mph in just 6 seconds. It will have twice the power to weight ratio of a Koenigsegg Edition or a Veyron – a massive 1000bhp per ton.

Only 25 Ariel Atom V8s are going to be built, and the price is a pretty stunning £100,000. Which is an awful lot of money for a four-wheeled Superbike.

But you won’t just need deep pockets to buy the Atom. You’ll need even deeper pockets to pay for the facial surgery to remove the dead flies embedded six inches in to your face after a run in it!

New Ariel Atom V8- Price update

The new Ariel Atom V8 will cost £120,000Ariel has announced that the new V8 Atom will cost £120,000 when it goes on sale in 2010. Just 25 are being built.Back in May we reported that the Ariel Atom V8

was in the pipeline, a range-topping 500bhp version of Atom’s road-track monster. Which is twice as much power as the standard Atom – which churns out around 245bhp – and a massive 200bhp more than even the Supercharged Atom.

Even in standard spec the Atom manage 0-60mph in a blistering sub 3 second sprint, thanks to its almost non-existent bodywork and ultra low weight. So what does sticking a V8 in to the Atom do? A 3.0 litre V8 made from a pair of Suzuki Hayabusa motors joined to a common crank, at that. Not as much as you’d expect. The 0-60mph time drops to 2.5 seconds. Which makes it as fast as anything on the road – or on the track.

So how much will it cost you to gain that extra 0.5 second? £120,000. Which makes the Ariel Atom V8 around four times the price of the regular Atom. So that’s an extra £90k to gain half a second. It doesn’t really add up.

Despite the monstrous price tag Ariel say that they have already pre-sold 19 of the 25 Atom V8s they are planning on building. Which has got to be good news for them.

Personally, I’d grab the standard supercharged version for some mad weekend blatting, pick up a new XJ (the range-topping supercharged version) for a daily drive and still have enough change for a half-decent holiday.

2010 Ariel Atom 500 V8 - Ariel Sports Cars

Ariel announce the latest version of the Atom - the Ariel Atom 500, powered by a small V8 engine. With over 500bhp in a 500kilo package the Atom 500 will boast one of the highest power to weight ratios ever for a production car, ever. At over 1000bhp per tonne the Atom 500 will be the ultimate statement in performance and is destined to be made in a limited edition.

Ariel Atom 500 V8

The V8 powered Atom is the first of some exciting developments from Ariel due to be released though 2008 and builds on the growing reputation that the company has for putting the passion back into driving and producing sports cars that are fun to drive as well as fast both on and off the track.

The Ariel Atom 500 V8 project first began back in 2007 as a special model created in conjunction with RS Developments. The car features the same RS (Russell Savory) designed supercharged, 2.4 litre V8 engine connected to a 6 speed sequential Sadev gearbox driving the rear wheels. The gearbox has power-on shift capability, paddle gearchange with manual override as well as launch and traction control.

The Ariel Atom 500 V8 is identifiable from the standard Atom by the twin rear intakes for intercoolers and unique anodized gold color scheme for the chassis and wheels and carbon fibre panels and carbon fibre aerofoils. Other features include chromemoly aerofoil wishbones, multi-function steering wheel, Alcon 4 piston caliper brakes and lightweight Dymag magnesium wheels.

Said Simon Saunders, Director of Ariel, 'This is an interesting project for us and an experimental departure from what we normally produce. For a few customers the Atom 500 will be the ultimate expression of lightweight performance and represents the outer limits of what is achievable in a road registered car. 

We also use this sort of project to explore the possibilities of how we can improve our standard cars. The Honda engined production cars already combine all the elements that we want in an Atom and by pushing the envelope to these sorts of extremes we can further improve the breed'.

Prices have not yet been released, but the first customer’s Ariel Atom 500 V8 will be built in spring. Ariel Director Simon Saunders said: ‘The Atom 500 will be the ultimate expression of lightweight performance and represents the outer limits of what is achievable in a road registered car.’

With the standard Atom 300 already achieving sub 3 second times to 60mph and sub 7 second times to 100mph, the 500 will take this one stage further with record breaking production car possibilities.