We just got supercharged
Discussion
Hi all, long time listener, 1st time caller, as they say.
We (I share the car with a mate) have just got our Atom2 back from Ariel with the 300bhp blower conversion. We ran the standard 220 for about a year before that. The car was bought mainly for track days but has ended up doing quite a few road miles too. I thought that people on here who plan/are getting the upgrade may be interested in first impressions of the 220/300 change.
Firstly, I fully agree with Simon that the way to go faster than a 220 (or 120/140/160 etc) is to get driving coaching. We certainly didn't 'need' more power, but you only live once and we couldn't resist.
Since its return I've only driven the car on the road, and it has certainly got more go than there's space to use it. It really is a wild ride. The increase in shove is definitely noticeable, but it has to be fed in more carefully in the 1st three gears, so the overall change in acceleration (to sane road speeds) isn't that great. With more heat in the tyres (on a track) I'm sure it will be a different story. We'll be out on track in the next couple of weeks, just to be sure
The only real difference on the road is that the gearbox becomes somewhat redundant. 6th gear is fine from 25mph to as fast as your conscience/license will allow. The scream from the charger is addictive though, so you play with the gearstick just to hear it wail.
Overall, should you do it? Is there any need to make a silly car mental? Well, the blower doesn't weigh much, the throttle pedal is analogue, and money is no fun unless its been spent, so why not?
Chris
We (I share the car with a mate) have just got our Atom2 back from Ariel with the 300bhp blower conversion. We ran the standard 220 for about a year before that. The car was bought mainly for track days but has ended up doing quite a few road miles too. I thought that people on here who plan/are getting the upgrade may be interested in first impressions of the 220/300 change.
Firstly, I fully agree with Simon that the way to go faster than a 220 (or 120/140/160 etc) is to get driving coaching. We certainly didn't 'need' more power, but you only live once and we couldn't resist.
Since its return I've only driven the car on the road, and it has certainly got more go than there's space to use it. It really is a wild ride. The increase in shove is definitely noticeable, but it has to be fed in more carefully in the 1st three gears, so the overall change in acceleration (to sane road speeds) isn't that great. With more heat in the tyres (on a track) I'm sure it will be a different story. We'll be out on track in the next couple of weeks, just to be sure
The only real difference on the road is that the gearbox becomes somewhat redundant. 6th gear is fine from 25mph to as fast as your conscience/license will allow. The scream from the charger is addictive though, so you play with the gearstick just to hear it wail. Overall, should you do it? Is there any need to make a silly car mental? Well, the blower doesn't weigh much, the throttle pedal is analogue, and money is no fun unless its been spent, so why not?
Chris
Good on yer, you lucky monkey.
The reason I'm replying (as an Elise driver who would really like an Atom but also wants it to be an every day car) is that The thought has crossed my mind about sharing an Atom with a chum of mine. How do you make that work - the sharing thing? I'm sure it's a simple thing for track days, but you obviously take to the road with it too. Do you take it in turns to keep it? or is it a non-equal share? etc., etc.
I don't mean to pry but I'd like to know if a similar arrangement could work for me...
Cheers
Mike
The reason I'm replying (as an Elise driver who would really like an Atom but also wants it to be an every day car) is that The thought has crossed my mind about sharing an Atom with a chum of mine. How do you make that work - the sharing thing? I'm sure it's a simple thing for track days, but you obviously take to the road with it too. Do you take it in turns to keep it? or is it a non-equal share? etc., etc.
I don't mean to pry but I'd like to know if a similar arrangement could work for me...
Cheers
Mike
Simple 50/50 split. We usually attend track days together, and take another car too (something that is fun on track but has a boot/roof etc). Car is kept in either of our garages in roughly equal measure - but we don't try to keep to any particular rota. We only live about 20mins apart, so swapping the car over is no hassle. The car is insured for both of us on the road and we use it as much as we've got the time. Our agreement on uninsured damage (road policy excess, or track incidents) is 'you break it you pay'. Same goes for lending it to other mates for a play (but I usually passenger for them, just to avoid the really crazy ones from binning it). The deal has worked out fine for us, and made the whole thing a lot more affordable. Simon at Ariel mentioned that quite a few are owned in this way.
I believe that's true - quite a few are shared. My first one was bought by my company (which I owned), and I shared it with a fellow director. However, after his unfortunate Armco interface I couldn't share insurance with him, and he wasn't prepared to shell out another £2k excess in case of incident. So I bought the car out of the company and now I wouldn't let anyone else drive it without me being there in the passenger seat, and even then, I wouldn't feel comfortable unless they had £26k sitting in a bank somewhere!
On the whole, I think sharing is only a great idea until, suddenly, it isn't.
On the whole, I think sharing is only a great idea until, suddenly, it isn't.
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