Ariel Atom at Virginia International Raceway
#1
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
Ariel Atom at Virginia International Raceway
After being out of work since May 1st, I decided to celebrate my new job with a road trip with my brother to VIR to drive the Ariel Atom. This is one of the fastest cars 0 - 60 MPH at 2.9 sec.
You get to go out on the track in 4 sessions of 20 min each. The first 2 are with a pace car. The second 2 you are out with just your group of 4 able to go as fast as you can with passing allowed.
They offer a video of your last 2 sessions that shoots over your shoulder as you drive the south course. Since the car is open and you have a roughly 4 in square piece of plexiglass as a windshield and you are sitting inches above the pavement, 100MPH+ seems slightly faster.
At anything over 100, my head was rocking back and forth from the turbulence.
You get to go out on the track in 4 sessions of 20 min each. The first 2 are with a pace car. The second 2 you are out with just your group of 4 able to go as fast as you can with passing allowed.
They offer a video of your last 2 sessions that shoots over your shoulder as you drive the south course. Since the car is open and you have a roughly 4 in square piece of plexiglass as a windshield and you are sitting inches above the pavement, 100MPH+ seems slightly faster.
At anything over 100, my head was rocking back and forth from the turbulence.
#2
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
They told us that the car would handle like no other that we had driven as they claimed nearly 2 G's in the corners. The car weighs 1,300 lbs. They also said that since the car has no assists(ABS,stability control, traction control) to be careful as most of the weight is behind you. You can chirp the tires in all 6 gears. If you floor it or hit the brakes too hard while you turn the steering wheel, you will spin. The skid marks in the first set of pics leading to the grass as well as the green car below is me. I never cut grass so fast in my life. Nothing will wake you up like spinning out at 90 MPH All I was thinking was how glad I was that I purchased extra insurance.
You can buy one of the cars and drive it on the street(not in NJ or NY) starting at $58K. See the black one below. They come with the 2.0 L engine & driveline from the Civic Si. The windshield and all plexiglass panels are options as well as other goodies. You also get a tour of their shop. They had the car the STIG drove on Top Gear(last pic). It was $266K and had a V-8 along with carbon fiber panels and wings. That car has the 4th fastest time around the Top Gear track.
You can buy one of the cars and drive it on the street(not in NJ or NY) starting at $58K. See the black one below. They come with the 2.0 L engine & driveline from the Civic Si. The windshield and all plexiglass panels are options as well as other goodies. You also get a tour of their shop. They had the car the STIG drove on Top Gear(last pic). It was $266K and had a V-8 along with carbon fiber panels and wings. That car has the 4th fastest time around the Top Gear track.
#6
Lexus Test Driver
Thread Starter
View from the Lodge: $123/night
Full Day at the Race Track: $1895
Extra Insurance: Priceless
They have 2 more dates in October for the full day then the season starts again in April. The 2014 schedule should come out in mid Dec. I wanted to do the skeet shooting but we arrived too late. There is also a spa and a go cart track on site. All totaled including gas, meals,insurance buy down,lodging and the video, it came to just over $2,500. Worth every penny
Full Day at the Race Track: $1895
Extra Insurance: Priceless
They have 2 more dates in October for the full day then the season starts again in April. The 2014 schedule should come out in mid Dec. I wanted to do the skeet shooting but we arrived too late. There is also a spa and a go cart track on site. All totaled including gas, meals,insurance buy down,lodging and the video, it came to just over $2,500. Worth every penny
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bagwell
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05-07-09 11:14 AM