A 668 kg Ariel Atom just battered a Porsche 911 GT2 RS's lap record on road tyres
Proof, again, that weight is the enemy and lightness is king
Here is your reminder that in the battle between power and weight, weight usually wins. The featherweight Ariel Atom 4RR has smashed the Porsche 911 GT2 RS's lap record at Anglesey, and it did so on road-legal tyres, in full road trim, for a fraction of what a fettled Porsche costs. It is the kind of giant-killing result that makes us grin from ear to ear.
The record run
At Anglesey Circuit in Wales, Ariel test driver Phil Keen lapped the Atom 4RR in 1:27.77. The previous benchmark, held by a Porsche 911 GT2 RS fitted with the fearsome Manthey performance kit, stood at 1:29.35, so the little Ariel was nearly two full seconds quicker. The really telling part is that the Atom was in full road trim on road-legal Yokohama A052 tyres, not a stripped-out, slick-shod special.
Tiny weight, huge power
The Atom 4RR's secret is the oldest one in the book: mass, or the lack of it. It tips the scales at just 668 kg, yet packs a 2.0-litre turbocharged Honda Civic Type R four-cylinder tuned to a savage 525 hp, well up on the road car's 315 hp. That gives it a power-to-weight ratio most hypercars can only dream of, and on a tight, technical circuit like Anglesey that combination is simply devastating. It is the same lightweight-is-everything philosophy that makes the fan-powered McMurtry Speirling such a track weapon.
Cheaper than the car it beat
Then there is the price. The Atom 4RR starts at around 208,000 pounds, which is a lot for an Ariel given a standard Atom 4 costs from 48,000 pounds, but it is still well below what a Manthey-fettled 911 GT2 RS commands, hence the many-headlines about it doing the job for a fraction of the money. It shames far pricier and more powerful machinery, including Porsche's own hardcore track cars like the 911 GT4 R customer racer. The 4RR will be built in very limited numbers and is set to appear at the Goodwood Festival of Speed later this year.
AutoNext Take
We love this so much. In an age of two-tonne, thousand-horsepower everything, a skeletal British machine humbling a Manthey Porsche on ordinary road tyres is a glorious reality check. The Atom 4RR is not cheap in absolute terms, but as a distilled, no-nonsense driving tool it is worth every penny, and it proves the lightweight gospel that Colin Chapman preached decades ago still holds true. Records set on slicks are impressive; a record set in road trim, on road tyres, is something else entirely. More lightness, less bloat, please. This is our kind of car.
