Having a play in the Ariel Atom

All work and no play makes the Marketing Manager a dull boy, so when the opportunity came up to drive the Maverick Motorsport Atom at Snetterton we jumped at the chance.

Whilst we aren’t new to Ariel Atoms a full fat cup spec is something we hadn’t driven before so after reading the reviews we were excited to see how it was different. With our kit bag packed with everything we need we headed to sunny Norfolk, to find it wasn’t as sunny as the weather app had promised. This won’t be a shock to anyone who’s spent time at Mr Palmers eastern outpost.

The day was split between four drivers as we they were preparing for Haydn Payne to compete in the BRSCC Pro Sports Sprint at Silverstone. The aim of the day was to have some fun and get the car set up for the high speed Silverstone GP layout. As the day started off cool once the installation laps had been completed by Maverick in Chief James Harridge it was the turn of Haydn to get tuned into the car. Given Haydns previous experence has mostly been in lower powered FWD machinary like the C1’s seen in the City Car Cup it was important that he got in as many laps as possible.

Once he had done his first session I jumped in the car to have my first laps. Immediately the car felt even more responsive than other Atoms I have driven, probably due to the different dampers and increased camber in cup spec. After a few steady laps I increased the pace and had a bit more fun, this is when the car really came alive. A regular Atom can be provoked into a slide if you have a reasonable amount of talent and this car is no different, you can rotate it on the brakes on the way in and on the throttle on the way out, lots of fun when you get it right. Snetterton may get some abuse but I love the place, big long straights to build up the speed and a good variety of corners to have some fun on, and it didn’t even rain until the trailer was loaded.

My Rocked-IT kit perfomed fantastically throughout the day, from the kit bag hauling my stuff there, the Zamp helmet keeping my ears warm and the Torq team wear keeping the worse of the Norfolk wind away!!

If you want to hire the Atom for a trackday or race weekend you can contact them via Facebook Facebook or email Enquiries-maverick@outlook.com.