The Ariel and KTM have a strut and funk about them that lends itself to the urban environment - at heart, they're beautiful bits of industrial design as much as cars. Manchester doesn't really care about the figures, Manchester focuses (only barely, in most cases) on the visuals. One revs to well over 10,000rpm, another hits 60mph in under three seconds all will top 150mph and are built in tiny numbers. Combined, they weigh just 1,920kg and develop 830bhp.
![everything vs everything mugen widescreen everything vs everything mugen widescreen](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Db1iE5UFbo8/hqdefault.jpg)
Convincing the authorities that this can be driven on the public highway can't have been easy.Īll are mid-engined, all have six-speed gearboxes, five-point harnesses and not a sniff of weather protection. This is not Radical's new road-going SL announced a few months ago, but a hardcore RS that's had the necessary SL bits added to make it road legal. The Mugen is Ariel's newcomer, and the most track-focused Atom ever - it doesn't have the overwhelming focus on power of the V8, nor the distorted connection between right foot and engine of the supercharged model, just a masterfully honed, naturally aspirated four-cylinder and some handy chassis tuning.īut it's our final contender that's making the early running with the local populace. The R designation is new for the X-Bow, denoting the presence of an Audi S3-sourced engine that sits 19mm lower in the chassis and is now bolted straight to the carbon monocoque, F1-style. We know that at the TG test track, each is capable of administering a supercar smackdown of heroic proportions, but they do wear tax discs after all, so let's start in the city, move to the country and wind up at a track and see where we have most fun.Īnd which we have the most fun in: KTM X-Bow R, Ariel Atom Mugen or Radical SR3RS. Perhaps, we mused, by being the very essence of undiluted driving pleasure, they're a blast wherever you take them. Sounds a bit high-handed, but at Top Gear, we have a theory that these cars might just be selling themselves short by having a sphere of influence that extends no further than the pit lane.
![everything vs everything mugen widescreen everything vs everything mugen widescreen](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rSZJ5ukOUmU/maxresdefault.jpg)
Instead, what we want to do, via the medium of these ultra-light cars, is explore the concept of fun.
![everything vs everything mugen widescreen everything vs everything mugen widescreen](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iV-fmFjKY-Q/maxresdefault.jpg)
The obvious thing to do with three intense, extreme track specials around would be to take them straight to a circuit, uncork the Stig and have done with it. This feature was originally published in Issue 217 of Top Gear magazine (2011)