Hér er smá "report" frá Northloop gaurum sem prufuðu 300hp SC útgáfuna:
"... Lee hired one out at Woodbridge for the afternoon, and we had a bit of a blast round
Probably spent about 40mins in it, bit more if you include passengering, and thought it may be interesting to share my thoughts
It was the 300 SC version
With all of this, you need to bear in mind i've obviously not driven one before and although i'm "alright" at peddling stuff round, i'm no Dale
Performance
- they are quick, but not as quick as I was expecting. The Evo is quicker (we did a straight line comparison). Along a long straight (runway), the Evo was peaking 140+, the Atom was just about reaching 120
I think aerodynamics start to kick in around 80, even with the Evo's stupid rear wing the fact it has nearly double the power probably counts for something
So whilst they are indeed rapid, they're no GT3 / highly modded car killer
I think the whole face/body exposed, noise of the air/engine adds to the feeling of speed
- they corner fast because they're light and nimble, so you can brake later / accelerate quicker and turn sharper, but they're actually not as quick mid-corner as you may think
There's a long right hander. In the MX5 I could take it through at 60-65. In the Atom, about 65-70 (Atom running 888s, i was on road tyres). In the Evo.... well, however big your balls are. 65 feels like you're held up behind someone doing 23 in a 30
I think there are two reasons for this:
1. Rubber width. Despite it being light blah blah, the tyres are pretty skinny. The tyres were definitely up to temperature
2. Weight. Despite everyone seeking to lose weight, mid-corner I'm not sure that lightness = goodness. The car soon starts to slide and lose grip
The other thing to bear in mind is that no doubt someone could pedal the atom through, the rear out just enough to get optimum speed through and be a lot quicker... but that person should also be able to do that in the Mazda, and the Evo, so I think relative speaking it's fair to say it's a useful comparison
- the brakes got cooked very quickly. Despite all the pre-chat about "make sure you warm them up", Lee and I are used to stepping on brakes last minute and scrubbing speed off. For those that have been in the Evo, the first comment is usually about how late you can brake
I was surprised at this. We obviously weren't driving it 10/10 as it wasn't our car, but you'd have thought that they would stand up to a little more abuse
Again, small discs, perhaps heat is an issue. It's all very well being 600kg or whatever they are, but when you add another 160kg in people (not equally shared ) then perhaps that's a factor
Oh, and the fact it has no servo or any of that made fook all difference in how it drove. I was expecting it to be some kind of nightmare machine to drive, but it's actually very very easy
- the pick up from the engine is ridiculous, and makes it SO easy to drive "quite fast". You could leave it in 3rd most of the way round very happily - because it's so light, it pulls away at any revs
Sticking it in 2nd and using the rev range at the top where the power is does get you round quicker, but it gets a bit more frantic
Handling
- a fast go kart
- an mx5 on steriods
Literally, it handles exactly like an MX5, but it just happens a bit quicker as they're lighter / faster. Trail braking gets the back round very nicely, and you can feather the throttle very easily out of a corner to slide the back around
"Dab of oppo", keep it nailed, and it sorts itself out... to the expense of the rear tyres, but hey
- the feedback from the steering wheel was awesome
- The 'Experience'
I came away from the Atom thinking, "well that was shit". On reflection, I was a little too harsh, and here's why...
- the seats are crap, and take ages to adjust. As a result, it was optimised for Lee or me - I was stretching a little and had to slide down in the seat to reach the pedals, and Lee had his legs quite bent
As a result, I wasn't as comfortable as I would have been if it'd been set up properly
- you need a full face helmet that is moulded to your face. I borrowed both Lee's and a friends, and even though the strap underneath was very tight, it still lifts from your head. So to enjoy it properly, you need a proper full face helmet
I did consider getting my open face one and wearing glasses... then I saw just how many bugs had splatted across the visor. No chance!
- having said that, the seat is absolutely gash. A piece of fiberglass that moves with driver and passenger, is angled appallingly and flexes under acceleration and braking.
There's also a bit of plastic that comes out in the middle, which makes changing gear fecking uncomfortable. Again, may have been exaggerated by the fact both of us had to sit in the seat a little differently to reach the pedals OK, but even so it's a massive design flaw IMO
- the gearknob, dash etc - all of it screams "bought from screwfix". Appalling for a 40k+ car.
- couldn't heel and toe because the pedals are shit. Again, i'd have thought for 40k they'd stick some decent ones in.
- although the noise is "nice", it's a bit annoying after a while. Give me a car with a windscreen / roof any day.
So in conclusion...
They are an MX5 on steriods. If you can spend the time making yourself comfortable, they're very easy to drive and very quick to get round a track with absolutely no trouble
Because you can leave it in any gear (within reason) and it accelerates fine, it makes even the most retarded of drivers very quick
Can't emphasise enough how important it is to make yourself comfortable!
If you want to experiment and brake towards the apex, catch it, and floor it out the corner it doesn't bite your arse off. Yes, you'll probably spin if you take the piss (as we both did, once or twice ) but it's not twitchy or anything
Definitely a rip off for 40k, I would like to see proper seats, decent pedals, a decent gear lever/change
They're not a ring car - the speeds at the ring are very much "you need decent aero" territory. Plus you'd die if you came off.
Very good fun for a one-off, i'd definitely buy one if they were 10k and I could just use it to learn RWD then flog it again and buy a porker, but they don't expose you to the realities of other cars....
i.e. under powered car - you have to be in the right gear to get the most out of the corner
turbo car - you need to be in the right gear to avoid lag
FWD car - you need to learn various techniques to get the car to turn and not understeer
So whilst it has 300bhp, a supercharger, and weighs fook all, I'd actually recommend the concept to someone who has just finished karting and wants a car to step up into
If they were more practical and cheaper, they would replace the MX5 as the best car to learn RWD in (although as above, with so much power on tap they spoil you and don't teach you the reality of needing to wring the arse off a car to get performance out of it)
Oh and finally - Lee crashed* it, I didn't
*well, kinda... bit of damage from smacking a plastic barrier as he lent on the brakes too much and locked up 'cuz they were smoking"
http://z8.invisionfree.com/Northloop/in ... opic=30071
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