Ariel Atom 4RR review: the fastest and most extreme Atom EVER

What’s this then?

One of the fastest and most extreme road-legal cars (a lot of) money can buy. This is the Ariel Atom 4RR, built to celebrate 25 years of the Ariel Atom. Note it’s not the mere 4R (that lapped the Top Gear track in the hands of The Stig in 1m13.7s last year) this one is a whole ‘R’ faster.

Essentially, we’re looking at the spiritual successor to the Atom V8 – not in cylinder count, but in terms of sheer insanity. It has 525bhp, more downforce, weighs as much as a flip flop and is the most focused and fastest Atom ever – and they’re all bloody quick.

If you recall the iconic flappy cheek Clarkson moment back in the day, that Supercharged Atom only had 300bhp… this one might take your head clean off.

Tell me more about the engine.

It starts life as the trusty Honda Civic Type R 2.0-litre turbo but is completely hand-rebuilt to motorsport spec, with each unit taking 100 hours to complete. There’s a bigger turbo with 1.7bar of boost for 525bhp and 406lb ft of torque, with an 8,200rpm redline – but also a higher-pressure fuel system, “closed deck sleeves, bespoke forged pistons and connecting rods, revised cylinder head and port geometry, bespoke camshafts and alloy valve set with uprated springs and guides. All rotating components are measured, fully weight‑matched and dynamically balanced.” Translation: it rips like a racing engine, but has road car longevity and usability at lower speeds.

Usability? Interesting choice of word.

It’s true you’re unlikely to be using a 4RR as a daily driver, but there are some concessions to making it better behaved on His Majesty’s highway. Like a trio of engine maps – one with just 450bhp (let’s call that supermarket mode), a middle setting with the full 525bhp but a gentler torque curve (my personal favourite) and then the full unleash-the-beast map. And there’s more – seven-stage traction control, aka the how-brave-are-you-feeling knob, and eleven-stage ABS.

We’re talking a power-to-weight ratio of around 750bhp/tonne. Bugatti Chiron territory

All electronic help is gratefully received when you have a car weighing sub-700kg, with all that grunt. We’re talking a power-to-weight ratio of around 750bhp/tonne. Bugatti Chiron territory. In something that makes a canoe look like the pinnacle of luxury.

Anything else to talk about on the interior?

Well there’s air-con, courtesy of mother nature, and not a lot else. The seats are familiar, unpadded jobbies with race harnesses and are an immense faff to get in and out of, but entirely necessary to stop you flying off in the wind.

The gearbox is a Quaife six-speed manual sequential – manual because setting off in first gear requires the clutch pedal, but once up and running you can slap the gears through with the paddles behind the wheel.

Any other upgrades?

The suspension uses ‘twin tube’ Öhlins dampers, manually adjustable for compression and rebound – although there’ll soon be the option of controlling them electrically through an app on your phone. The brakes are AP Racing 310mm two-piece ventilated discs, the largest that can fit inside the Atom’s wheels, along with four-piston callipers and race-spec pads. The wheels are forged alloy – 16-inch at the front, 17-inch at the rear – with Yokohama A052 tyres.

Crikey. And you mentioned downforce?

Yes, it has some. Although no more than the ‘standard’ 4R. That produces more than 110kg at 70mph, which as a proportion of the car’s total weight is more significant than it sounds.

There are new carbon-fibre side pods, too, redesigned to house better cooling for the engine and gearbox and support the extra power and performance… we’re talking 0-62mph in 2.4 seconds, 0-100mph in 5.1s and a top speed of 175mph.

The helmet makes sense then. What’s it like to drive?

A bit of a handful, unsurprisingly. The ferocity with which it charges forwards is difficult for the human brain to compute. This isn’t acceleration, it’s deletion of distance. On the public road it’s probably a bit much, but we stuck to the TG test track where, after a few frantic laps, the car and I began to gel.

The ferocity with which it charges forwards is difficult for the human brain to compute

Yes, the small wheel wriggles about in your hands like a ferret, and you need to be cautious on the throttle, but the car is on your side – speed is what it’s made for. There’s massive mechanical grip, the gearbox is whipcrack quick and perfectly suited to the cars manic demeanor, and once you experience how devastating the brakes are, and how addictive the turbo’d rush of torque is, you find yourself flinging it about in a way that would have seemed reckless when first strapping yourself in.

It’s an Atom alright, you can feel that DNA coursing through every fibre, it’s just been sharpened and heightened in every way possible. The Atom, in any flavour, already delivered the pinnacle of adrenalin-soaked, exposed-to-the-elements fun, blurring the line between motorbike and car… but this is more of everything. If what you’re after is the biggest possible thrill on track (with a side-order of adrenalin rush on the road) then this is the new boss. It’s a stunning evolution, and perhaps conclusion, of the Atom idea.

Come on then, what was the lap time?

To answer that we handed it over to The Stig. If you haven’t seen the video of him wrestling the 4RR around Dunsfold, then I implore you to do so immediately, it’s a shockingly good piece of driving. And a shockingly fast time – 1m12.3s – a full 1.4 seconds faster than the 400bhp Atom 4R, which puts it 14th on the all-time leaderboard when you include both road-legal and track-only cars.

Narrow it down to only those with a numberplate and it’s the fourth fastest thing to ever lap the TG track, ahead of the 992 GT3 RS Manthey, Dallara Stradale and Ferrari 488 Pista, and only just behind the Ferrari SF90, Koenigsegg Jesko Attack and the Aston Martin Valkyrie. Not bad and, once again, helmets off to Stig for holding onto it – pretty sure there was some oversteer at 135mph past the tyre wall.

So how much is it?

The Ariel Atom 4RR is yours for the princely sum of £208,000 + VAT. That’s £249,600 before options, which is a ridiculous amount of cash for a fettled Civic Type R engine and some scaffolding.

However, the quality of the motorsport-spec components throughout is stunning, the dedication to extracting every last grain of speed is admirable, and it all comes together harmoniously to produce fairground-ride performance, but handling you don’t need to be an F1 driver to master… but if your name’s The Stig, it helps.