Ariel Atom - The Amazingly Fast Solution To Your Mid-Life Crisis | Car Review | Top Gear
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- Опубліковано 15 сер 2008
- Click here for the HQ version! • Ariel Atom: Insane Spe...
Jeremy challenges the Atom to prove that its more fun than a motorbike - with astounding and face melting results! But what will the Stig make of it?
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I've been to the factory, they aren't kidding when they say 7 employees
poor dave
whopeter I mean clearly Dave enjoys what he does, which is why he put so much passion into this car
absolut cabbagery Dave is chasing the bag 🤑
I wouldn’t mind helping Dave build the car
Factory? You mean shed?
This review literally made that company
Helped
Helped the company
@@value_sniper4056 made it, nobody had ever heard of the ariel atom before this and likely never would have.... and now, while they're not a household name necessarily, they're a fairly well known company just from the meme of Jeremy getting his face ripped off... they wouldnt be what they are today without it
Frowlinian that’s cool to know
After creating the Atom they deserved it
"it destroyed my entire face. Five stars"
~Jeremy Clarkson
lolllll
_”come over, my parents aren’t home”_
3:07
This needs more likes
Oof
Wow nice one
Supercharger whine ftw
G-d is always home
LOL His face has flappy paddles
Nice
Lol!
At 3:08 Jeremy looks like Arnold Schwartseneger
My dog makes the same face with its head out the window lol
it became a meme
The car is so fast it turns Jeremy Clarkson into Arnold Schwarzenegger!
LOL finally someone mentioned it!
True
I went to say something and then seem this lmao
Thought it was John Prescott ;)
IL BE BACK in a giffy
When you revisit this video a decade later, only to realize that you are now the middle aged bloke with a (slight) gut that bought himself a motorcycle...
Worst part is that the atoms are north of 60 thousand pounds now, lol
@@bradman7281 I would go for a caterham super seven they are in the same price range better/equal acceleration and they look a lot better.
Not middle aged but now Im building a gut thanks to covid and yes, I do have a bike (Yamaha) and can never have an access to purchase an Atom because my region is called the "Sea." :(
Oof
Biggest smack in the face to me was that he calls 35-40 middle aged!
I can't even begin to imagine how fun/terrifying it must be to drive the 500 horsepower variant of this thing.
lollllll😂
It’d be the best way to commit suicide
The car in the video has a Honda engine. If it's 500 horsepower, the we may see a very old ghost rider without the fire.
@@NeetuSingh-gl1ue its two hayabusa engines
i have its rediculous
Proven fact:
You will look younger, when driving the Ariel Atom.
Phulax I agree
I don't think people will get enough time to see you, let alone guess your age...
Untill your face falls apart in the wind
And get chiseled jawline.
Gives "face lift" new meaning
7 people created this....
Also after it hit Test Drive Unlimited 2, as that car was in there and quite a few people knew about it then.
Splinter4077 seriously...comparing that to this video is like comparing the Egyptian military to the American Military.
DownBefore Clarkson says the most memorable stuff. lol
I'd like to think they were friends
insane
Funny how such a small company did more with a Honda engine than Honda
Hahaha
+Peter Schmidt It's common.
***** Well yeah obviously - of course Honda could make this if they really wanted to. Honda, to my knowledge, has made F1 cars too. They're not idiots, I'm just saying that for something that's street legal, Honda hasn't made anything like this.
Making the engine isn't all that hard either when you've got one as [relatively] basic as this one. The real hard part is getting every last drop of power out of it without destroying it.
Your Lego analogy is a good one, but doesn't necessarily detract from my point. I'm not saying it's a bad thing that Honda never made a car like this. Probably too many legal issues to be worth the trouble. But they easily could have, and they'd yield more of a profit if they did; just like the people who build amazing things with Legos that don't sell their work to the company.
+Peter Schmidt I'm pretty sure if Honda was seeing profit, they would do it. What is good for a small company isn't necessity good too for a big one. Honda had way more HP from an 1.5 liter turbo engine than Atom from this one. There are enough regulations they have to look at and I guess it's just not worth the trouble for them. 300 HP from turbocharged or supercharged 2L engine is nothing spectacular anyway.
Alexander Radev Actually it is, when you have vtec.
Apparently the owner of Ariel teared up when he heard what Jeremy said at 5:27
you have a source?
@@mayoite160 damn mayoite in the wild, go mayo!
@@tanishhandique5139 go mayo!
@@tanishhandique5139 is that a cult?
@@its_only_karma7440 It's a tactical telephone company.
3:10 looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger :D
rust in piece Clarkson he was too young
A Megadeth and a Metallica fan. Great
uptempo trash dad rock
Nice profile pic
I find it pretty astounding that Ariel was able to get 300hp supercharging a Civic Type-R engine from 2008 whereas Honda has only done that recently by way of turbocharging with the current Type-R. Just shows how clever that group was to be ahead of the curve by ten years.
well honda also has different goals. even if it's a civic type r, it still has to be an everyday car. and the engine should have a higher life expectancy, than in an atom. also Honda has to put money in infotainment and sh*t, atom doesn't :D
@@wings4max at the time Honda was also solely focused on NA power. they tried turboing some of their cars (namely the SuperGT NSX) but they realized that NA power would be better suited for it.
I have to hand it to Ariel. To make a street legal car like that is amazing. No mercedes benz, bmw, or dodge charger will ever challenge you at stoplights. And you can also wave to people as you make your turns at instersections at 45mph. :P
but tesla might :)
The Dodge Demon will (:
Amaar Haque Xd tesla what a joke
It "only" runs 11.20s at 121. Plenty of cars will trap more than that.
Do that under the rain hahahaha
To me this style of top gear is so much better than later years and grand tour. It has some 90s and mid2000s pro consumer vibe. It was silly in the right measure. How I miss these times.
Exactly my man
LOL at 3:05
he looks like an ouragoutang
3:05
@@misterjersey5460 clarkson's face tho lol
@@glitch9722 clarkson wasnt kidding when he said it can destroy ur entire face lol
Cheaaaah 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼
K ill have a whiff
Ery Noice
@@nooblangpoo no jeremia car gas bad for helth
@@lorin3894 shut mouth hammock
*Cock*
@@commietearsdrinker shut up jams
3:12 "K I'll have a whiff"
I want that car so bad I've heard now I could get a V8 aerial atom for only £25,000! And a standard 2.0litere version for £10,000 but the limited edition version with 500bhp is £35,000 so relatively cheep for a small terrifying car with no wind screen
so...did you get one yet?
@@ajeshkt1041 it's been 5 years mate here probably got one
And now, those ariel v8 go for around 100k
@@martinarbe1 I know. When I saw this I marveled at the price. And now its so far out of reach. Wish they would have kept them cheaper. Guess it's back to cbr600rr
You should consider the DF Goblin. The DF Goblin costs $11,000 for a full build and it can beat super cars on the drag strip. It uses a Chevy Cobalt SS as the donor car and it’s nicknamed “the poor mans atom” 😂
I remember meeting the CEO of Ariel Atom and I thought he was just an older student intern! Brimming with passion, humility, and a pure love for performance. A MEGA Company!
Over the years I've flown F15 fighters, done power slides in airboats, straffed the desert from helicopter gunships, but for sheer ecitement this thing is off the scale.
But have you seen Wall Drug, in Wall, South Dakota?
how is flying an eagle not as thrilling as driving an atom my good sir
One of my earliest UA-cam memories is seeing Jeremy Clarkson get his face rearranged by one of these
The best advertisement for a car company is a positive review on top gear / the grand tour
3:00 - Agent Smith has taken control of Clarkson
god help the man who flips one of these going 80 around a corner
That's why brainbuckets and 5 point racing harnesses exist. That, and you'd be hard pressed to turn it over.
With such a low center of gravity it's be pretty difficult to flip one, short of an inverse banked curve.
DKproductions unless you slide it into a curb, it won’t roll
I bet Ariel would pay you if you somehow managed to flip one of these SOBs...
I'm sure hamster could've managed to flip it.
Drove one of these at a track day at the Top Gear track today. Absolutely mind blowing. An absolute weapon of a car.
I went on a track day for my 21st too pal, 10 years ago. I didn’t drive it but had 2 laps with a professional driver. Absolutely terrifying how fast this thing is but loved it at the same time 😂
you can tell by his expressions you can tell by his laugh, he's never have had this much fun before. i bet this machine is amazing .
4:22 ARGH HA HAHA HA!
This is how I will always remember mad Jeremy Clarkson!
This is such an iconic top gear review.
And there are a lot to choose from
when this was aired the Ariel atom was almost 10 years old, the original review by top gear was aired in1999
This was from 2004.
This is the fastest a Honda Civic engine will ever be
wrong. It's a stock Type-R engine.
Lol someone new to the internet or have you really never seen any of the videos of tuned 1000hp mustangs vipers gtrs cars getting gapped by civics and k20 swaps
Type R u nub didnt u even listen
SpinachCookie power doesn’t garuntee speed
Just wait till the VTEC kicks in.
One of the best car drives I’ve ever had was 3 laps in the passenger seat of this car it was such an experience
3:05 when VTEC kickin yo 😆
Gotta love how this one segment is the reason Ariel is still around today
3:00 best 15 seconds on youtube XD lmao
“K I’ll have a whiff.”
3:10
revving that engine up mate
When Jeremy accelerated he turned into Agent Smith
So that's how matrix began.....
3:28 Thanks Rimmy Tim
Today on medium gear, what happens when taste exhoost fum
K, I'll have a whiff
3:07
Ery nice
Ery noice😂😂😂
No Jeremia, car gad bas for health
tody*
Cock
@@Dingmao. shut up jams
Lol i laughed at jeremys last phrase.
"They are offering a big brake pack, go for that, or you wont be back here in the spring" XD
i believe the song is "Disco Science" by Mirwais. It should be on the album called "Production".
It came up while I was listening to it on Pandora like 20 min after I heard watched this lol. Thought I'd share since I remembered seeing your comment.
The Clarkson face is in the Ariel site ;-;
3:13 Clarkson has Ram Air
[Breathing Intensifies]
The older version of the Atom had a Ecotec engine in it. The newer version has a Honda K20 series engine in it with a 6 speed close-ratio gearbox.
10 years later exactly and still the best
You know my favorite part? It has a Honda CTR heart
VTEC all the way...
2:54 I thought Jeremy Clarkson looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger
Now that idea is stuck in my mind and yes I see it lol
This was one of Clarkson's funniest episodes. I laughed out loud a few times.
I like how he specifically says "Stick that, in your sports exhaust, Mr. Kawasaki"
In 2015, now granted, that's 7 years after this but anyways, Kawasaki made the Ninja H2R, a bike that weighs 215kg and produces 310 hp from a 998cc supercharged i4
That means it has aproximately 1440 hp/ton which is more than double this cars HP/Ton
_They did what he said. And that brought a succesful bike._
Comparing a bike to a car 😂
Not doubting the power outputs or indeed the performance - but the precision of an atom, I promise you, can not be matched by anything on 2 wheels - in terms of thrills? Well, I’ve only ever riden a 750 and that was plenty enough a thrill and I suspect anything more is just plain terrifying - the atom allows you to exploit more of the performance without the fear and that in itself is beyond thrilling
04:20. Just a big kid playing with his toy car.
The Ariel Atom is the "spider" of the motorcar world. I HATE spiders. I love the Ariel Atom.
3:10 My new desktop background.
3:07 "It's so quick it can destroy your entire face."
IT'S BEAUTIFUL! XD
Haters insult the atom for resembling a street legal go-kart, when that's the whole point of it. The fun and responsive action of go karts paired with the shear power and speed of F1 racing with the reliability of a daily driver.
Even as a massive Honda Boi, i gotta admit, Ariel did real good work with the K20C. Not because Honda doesn't want to, but Honda can't due to legal issues. Ariel basically fulfilled Honda's dream of making a street legal F1 car.
"You hit every apex, every single time."
...proceeds to show Stig missing every apex lol
5:56 - I'd watch an episode of Badger Watch, filmed on Jeremy's head. :-)
All the years since I saw this on the night this episode aired, I've wanted one. I absolutely love it.
I had a passenger ride in one of these on an airfield being driven on the limit.
Anyone who is into cars you HAVE to experience it, senses could barely comprehend the sheer performance of this thing!
On the same day I was driving a 400hp R34 GTR and the atom passed me on the straight like I was standing still
I've never seen Jeremy so happy. Utterly ecstatic!!
Love the fact that this is in full screen.
More high def, please. It looks *good*.
More Top Gear, please.
Keep up the good work!
Old comment pog
This is a museum comment!
What a beautiful piece of engineering!!
4:20 is so good. Long live Top Gear with these three!
The track is: Mirwais - Disco Science from Snatch
Two wheels and four wheels are completely different machines. I ride/drive them both and love them both for their unique qualities.
3:06 Arnold Swarzenegger mode activated
The first Top Gear video to go viral and being Top Gear to the US. The rest is history.
Absolute classic, even after all these years.
"Most beautiful car in the world."
It has one body panel...
"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
@@soupsandwch Oh, golden words
Exactly. Also, as a Mechanic, I would happily work on this car any day of the week.
in the road test jeramy says its so good you will never miss an apex.when the stig is doing the flying lap he misses hammerhead so badly and misses the apex on the last corner.i think they did this delibratly to make the lap time slower otherwise nothing would ever beat it
I often wonder how well the original Atom holds up to this day. I always had a soft spot for that supercharged Honda engine track toy.
The company owner told me that Top Gear had been "very kind" to him and his creation...but I didn't realise they had been THIS kind. That's quite the review!
This is the single greatest review in Top Gear history, and that's saying a lot : )
I've driven an atom around the top gear track so I know what he's talking about on a personal level, the most I same thing I've ever driven. cars don't scare me but I was terrified of the throttle, it's like lightspeed. Honestly Clarkson is absolutely spot on in what he says. Immense car
@@jkfgaming7273 old bump sorry but if you didn't know they do track days and tours at dunsfold, i went round in a xbow
I've driven an atom around the tip gear test track. Was loads of fun and scary fast
it's so fast it makes Jeremy Clarkson look like Rick astley
You are most welcome. I have found over the years that the Top Gear music department and I have very similar tastes.
0:47, I laughed way too hard at this comment.
4:21 that’s the laugh of someone loving the moment.
Im 35 now and this video hits harder and more true than ever
I had the pleasure of being driven round the track in an Atom. Everything Jeremy Clarkson say is true. The thing he did not mention was that a prayer book and sick bag are not part of the equipment. Seriously though what an experience, loved it.
I did the same mate 10 years ago. Absolutely awesome how fast that thing is. I will never go in anything faster on the ground anyway!
Amazing vehicle to be sure but how did it go from roughly $33,000 equivalent USD in 2010 to $80,000 in 2022? That's insane...but maybe it's just me.
because the us versions are built under license in the states, and that company wants it's share of the american dream.... the uk/europe version is actually illegal to import and license here in the states.
The same way trucks went from 30k to 90k
@@marzsit9833 why's it illegal?
Brilliant review (with the exception of not using a proper Honda Fireblade) that definitely helped put Ariel on the map, but here's the thing ...
I've only ever seen 1 Atom on the road, but a gazzilion CBR 600RR's, 'Blades, ZXR's, Gixers etc etc etc.
I have seen lots of Atoms at track experience days though, so it never really worked.
Well yeah. Despite Jeremy saying it had a boot, it's not a practical day to day car.
You're certainly not using this to drop the kids off at school on the way to the office.
You can ride a bike to work and get there relatively unruffled. If you drive an Atom to work, you'll arrive needing a shower and to iron your clothes again.
The Atom being road legal just means you can drive it to the track, you don't need to use a lorry to carry or tow it.
It's only real use is a track car. Still would rather have one than a bike.
I have a z-1r kawasaki turbo bored to 1428cc with an Eddie Lawson 4 valve head on top.
It has a Mark-2 welded crankshaft, and M-cycle x-22 turbo cams with falicon slotted sprockets degreed 3 before and 3 after TDC. I run a Simpson gearset and a mix of aviation red 88 with 130 octane " purple" racing gas.
I peg 77 in 1st gear, and 225 in third at 22.k RPM.
1:48 Jeremy looks like will pharrel
2:40 soundtrack from :"Snatch" movie
classic
YES! I noticed the same thing. Best movie ever btw!
What's the song?
Awesome job guys
watched this video back in 2010 and always wanted one and just got one today.
Sweet! Have fun and several good runs!
"Disco Science" by Mirwais. It's from the film "Snatch" :)
3:04 listen to that soundtrack
disco science
One of the best lines on Top Gear ever. 'I am an alien!!'
It reminds me of the Lotus Super 7, except it has a lot more power. Just the same, I doubt it has the handling of the Lotus with its full asymetric wishbone suspension. The Lotus does not compromise the suspension, it has no doors. Handling is fantastic. If somebody gave me an Atom I would sell it and buy the Lotus. I would spend the remainder down at the pub to celebrate.
Just the same, the Atom is quite remarkable.
3:04
If you only watch one part of this vid, make it this.
2:15 you can see the clouds change slightly 'quickly' XD
I love both Ariel Atom and Nomad.... Its just awesome !😃
Power of sound
It's amazing that the original Ariel Atom was £29,000 at the time this episode of TG was filmed. As of 2023 here in the US, the Ariel Atom 4 starts at $83,750. How the times have changed. Regardless, I still want one.
I was equally shocked at how much it currently costs. I wonder if it is that much better a machine now vs then. Probably they've built market equity and people will pay that price. I would bet they took real losses selling this thing for the first few years.
Who's here because Cleetuse's video and remembered this gem
Me just finished cleetus's video
love how quick it corners
I’ve been a passenger in one of those around a track and he’s quite right, it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced