Same kind of car as Ariel Atom, looks like a formula with windshield thought, all I see is drawings no real pictures so we will see what its going to be
Atoms have no aero, except the race-spec cars with bolt-on wings, and not even the supercharged Atom can get close to 1000bhp/tonne and 3.5g in the corners.
I read they hope to deliver the first cars by the end of the year, so if they make it, it will be fast, but then with a £150,000 price tag (iirc) it should be.
It looks a bit overly futuristic. I suspect the styling will get toned down along th way. The closer they can get it to looking like a Le Mans Prototype, the happier I'll be. The front doesn't look too bad already...
Underneath it looks like it'll be a mixture of Le Mans Prototype and single seater technology. God knows what they'll power it with as no racing engine will last in the long term and they can't cope with idleing and low rev work for more than a few minutes before either overheating or seizing up.
IMO a road car is a road car a race car is a race car and they should be left like that.
I dunno, the engines at Le Mans are driven flat out for 24 hours - most road cars would die attempting to perform a similar feat. Of course on race engines they also want as much power as possible, so get the high rpms timed perfect and let the low rpms go to shit. In a road car more of a balance is needed. I can't see there being a reason why you can't readjust the engine from being lumpy to being smooth (at the expense of ultimate power, of course).
seriously though, you'd never be able to drive one of those things "at the speed limit". they're not made for that, it'd probably overheat!
better off buyin yourself an F3 car for track days
Re: Veyron is being built and sold, $1.3 million US. (and a loss leader at that, estimated cost including development is $5 million US) IIRC they're all already accounted for. Top speed is limited electronically to 400 km/h, which is roughly 250 mi/h, but you have to put the car into a special low-drag mode to do it (that said, the car is probably capable of faster in this mode). In the normal "handling" setup, top speed is drag limited to a reasonable bit over 200.
Ariel Atom, with the "good" engine, is about 600 BHP/tonne. I don't think anybody has done numerical testing on its roadholding, but with aggressive aero parts and upgraded tires I'd expect pushing 2 G. But top speed is probably only in the 250 km/h area, if that, due to drag.
This new car... I'm willing to believe the possibility of 1000 bhp/tonne, but I'd want proof too. 500 kilos is a damn light car. 3 G roadholding will have to be at high speed for the downforce--it's totally possible but sounds more impressive than it probably is. 3 G braking, ditto. The Veyron can probably do that too, albeit due to airbraking and a large body making for high drag at high speed, which together can probably exert a G or so by themselves. Acceleration... It's a stretch but I'll believe it. Group B cars could pull this off, granted with 4WD, but they weighed more and had ginormous turbos to spool up.
I think it's rather ugly too.
I'm just glad to see a company that, like Ariel, hasn't forgotten the importance of light weight in a performance car. All the modern ones, even ferraris and the like, have been positively obese. To hell with active suspension and leather trim weighing things down, it's about time somebody decided to show what current technology can really do. Lets just hope they don't use a cack gearbox like the original F1.
imho ariel atom would not be a good road car because of the obvious impracticality of the car. same goes for radical s3s and many open top trackday cars.
For me the perfect road car goes 2 ways:
-Street Car: is a light coupe that you can drift with, go to trackdays, take on a winding road etc. For me has to be a light rwd car. Like an s13 , need to get an lsd at least tho since the stock car is open diff . So if u dont wanna build/modify you could buy an s14, BMW E30, E36 M3, 924, 944 Porsche... Or if u prefer fwd a pug 106 is excellent or a Civic type R, Mini Cooper S, hell the old mini cooper's fine etc... so this sort of car... I think this is neccesary for all car freaks...
-Top Speed Oriented Car: is a heavier/aerodynamic car which is a bit comfy and has lotsa horsepower. I have a Mustang Cobra want to swap both of my other cars with a Corvette C5 to attain 180mph+ speeds. The perfect car here would be any Ferrari, a Porsche Turbo. Maybe a Toyota Supra, C5 Corvette (they go cheaper now) if you want to build it urself, or a Nissan Skyline R32,33,34... This is prolly a luxury an not needed if one is on a budget, but if one can afford it...
I do not think a car like Mclaren F1, Zonda, F50 or Enzo is realistic. I am a car freak, have like 3 cars all insensible, but wouldn't/couldn't pay millions of $ for ONE car...
Also I personally can only go as raw as a standard Elise when it comes to raw lightweight cars.
But then If I choose an Ultimate Road car I would go for a Zonda S... Its not as expensive as the others and I love the way a V12 Merc sounds for some reason...(not as good as the Flat 12 of old testarossa but still nice)
The front doesn't look too bad already...
