It was a lazy Sunday afternoon. I was sitting on my sofa with my loved one and blissfully whiling away the time in front of the plasma… Then I received that call.
“The Atom’s in the garage if you want to drive it. Just make sure that the ignition toggle is flicked up before you push the starter button… Oh, and Mike,” CAR deputy editor Hannes Oosthuizen added, “make very sure that the car is settled under you before you even think of using full throttle when accelerating out of a corner”.
I put the phone down and suddenly the balmy late summer afternoon felt like early evening. I got that sinking “end of the weekend feeling” and hugged my partner with just an extra pinch of affection and appreciation… I was madly excited, because I felt compelled to become one with an Ariel Atom… the world’s first exoskeletal road car that so famously distorted Jeremy Clarkson’s face on a vintage episode of Top Gear, but my driving talent would undoubtedly be pushed to the limit by a machine that combines 164 kW with a kerb weight of just 590 kg. I’ve driven Lambo’s, a GT-R and an Aston V12, but I sensed that I was about to learn what fast really feels like.
By the time I got out of the Mazda6 test unit and walked up to the CAR garage here in Pinelands, my palms were sweaty and I was feeling a little feverish. Then the building’s alarm went haywire and my nerves were well and truly frazzled. “Come on, Fourie, stop being a big old chicken…”, I steeled myself.
Then I leered at my combatant, with all those exposed powder-coated tubes and suspension arms, the massive air intake behind the plastic seating bucket and the heat-stained exhaust silencer. At least Hannes left a helmet and a makeshift balaclava for me… I lowered myself into the tub, became acquainted with the bare racing-type pedals, selected Neutral, and pushed the rubber starter button. Nothing happened. “Oh drat”. I flicked the ignition toggle up and tried again. Cacophony ensued as the Civic Type-R engine shrieked into life and settled into a manic lumpy burble…
By the time I had wormed into the safety harness and finished fiddling with the helmet’s fastening clip I became aware of my breathing inside the helmet. It was shallow and irregular, but even though the Atom’s clutch pedal affords only an inch of travel, I pulled away from the Howard Centre and set down sleepy Pinelands’ Forest Drive and came to my senses. “This is just a bit noisy and, apart from sitting mere millimetres above the ground, it’s all right”, I thought to myself. “I can do this”.
Heading out onto the N2 to Cape Town was a challenge. On board an Atom there are no blind spots to worry about, but one hopes the folks in their SUVs and trucks are aware of theirs. The toggle for the indicator is fiddly – you can barely make out the LEDs in the bright sunlight and seeing that there’s no repeater, it’s easy to forget that it’s on.
The next moment I was stuck in a traffic jam. Road works had forced the closure of all but one lane, and the Atom was creeping restlessly in second gear. The proletariat seemed captivated by the odd black and green car driven by a man dressed in a jersey that his mother knitted and wearing a helmet that closely resembled the one used by ‘80s Formula One no-hoper Mauricio Gugelmin.
“Are you the Stig?” one observer heckled. Then there was a short, sharp honk and another motorist gestured with his hand that I should rev the Atom a bit. I complied, and smiled sheepishly as I motioned back that I couldn’t hear what he was saying through the helmet. Later, after what seemed like an eternity of being scrutinised by Cape Town’s Sunday motorists, the road opened and the moment of truth dawned.
The Atom 3 is claimed to accelerate from standstill to 100 km/h in 3,2 seconds, but up to that point I hadn’t gone faster than about 60 km/h or used more than a few grand of revs. So on the first available stretch of open road I geared down to second and eased my right foot down on the long pedal… The acceleration was immediate, awe-inspiring and louder than anything I expected, and when that V-TEC kicked into high pitch beyond 5 000 r/min the scenery became no more than a multi-coloured blur. In between my Darth Vader-like panting I let out a delighted yelp as I gripped the little alcantara-clad steering wheel with near-maniacal nervous energy.
The grip levels are stratospheric, and therefore it was an especially visceral pleasure to feed in the power and feel the Atom’s steering wheel (which has a meaty, direct and utterly communicative feel) and suspension work through the palms of your hands and your nether regions. The brake pedal has limited feel or modulation but ushers the Atom to a stop with (oft-required) urgency; just mash the damn pedal down and don’t spare the calf muscle. The ride is pretty uncompromising and hitting a bump at full tilt can make the Ariel go airborne for a split second, and and one particular occurence resulted in what is best described as a major “Oh Shyza!” moment. Yes, I clearly recall that my eyes misted up for a brief moment as I contemplated my mortality…
Admittedly the shift action felt a bit longer than I expected, but the clutch responded well to pop-and-snick snap gearshifts. The car is actually relatively easy to live with as long as you ensure that the side mirrors are fastened sufficiently and don’t flap around in the wind as they did during my driving stint… No other car that I have driven, and that includes quite a few that cost comfortably more than R475 000, has ever made me laugh, cry, squeal for fear and roar with pleasure more than the Atom did. Excuse the hackneyed cliché, but that extraordinary contraption offers the most fun that can be had with your clothes on. By the same token, the Atom’s a scarily fast machine that needs to be handled with the utmost of respect… I wouldn’t dream of driving it on a damp or wet road.
On that most remarkable Sunday, my guardian angel and the Atom 3 thankfully saw eye to eye and I stopped around at my house to treat my loved one to a very brief burst down Forest sans helmets. I had never felt more energized and alive behind the wheel of a dumb automobile than I did that day… It’s a memory to cherish.
* The Atom had quite an eventful stay with the CAR team! To get the whole story and Hannes’ full driving impression, and check out loads of action pictures, read the June 2010 issue of CAR – on sale May 24.
** If you are interested in buying an Atom, contact local agent Dawie Joubert on 021 872 0398
