Since I was knee high to a Morris Minor hub cap I have been obsessed by cars. Well maybe obsessed is a bit of an exaggeration but I would say to call me a 'petrolhead' would not be too wide of the mark. Mind you I have no idea at all as to what makes them stop and go or anything like that but they do hold a special place in my heart.
The reason I'm telling you this is because I’ve been recalling the time my son Ryan acquired an Ariel Atom. That probably means absolutely nothing to most of you sensible people out there and I can totally understand but to those of us who will always be giddy little schoolboys and still prefer Roy of the Rovers to Ronaldo of the United... this is just for you.
Very briefly, Ariel (the company) started life many moons ago building motorcycles and I guess faded away under the Japanese onslaught. Then a few years ago they emerged as a very small car maker. The first time I actually saw an Atom was on Top Gear when Jeremy Clarkson (and the Stig) put the machine through its paces and honestly I'd never seen anything like it before. In a nutshell it just looks like some lunatics escaped from the asylum with some welding gear and hid out in some backstreet lockup, the result being a load of metal tubes with an engine strapped to the back just in front of two bucket seats. They make it road-legal by throwing on some lights!
Anyway, the laddo came to visit us in this little beastie and invited me to participate in a quiet jaunt around our quaint little country lanes, yes honestly officer! 300 brake horsepower (that's about ten Morris Minors) with a supercharger... in something that weighs about the same as a tube of toothpaste, I think you get the picture. Now I've been on motorbikes, been in fast cars, roller coasters, helter-skelters, you name it (though I admit that I've never thrown myself of a ten-storey building) but let me tell you that nothing comes close to this, words really do fail me. When that ‘GO’ pedal gets planted and the supercharger screams in your ear like some wailing banshee, the whole world suddenly moves backwards and this invisible rugby team pushes you through the back of the seat!
I want one, if I leave a picture of one lying around maybe the missus will get the hint? After all... it’s only about £56,000!
Keith.