Track Cars...

The Ariel Atom, made in the US by Brammo Motorsports. 2 passenger, street-legal race car - weighing just about 1000 lbs and 300 supercharged hp. Now before you tell me that's nothing, so-and-so's Viper or Corvette has 500hp, remember that most of today's "sports cars" weigh about 3000-3500 lbs - in other words, the Ariel has the equivalent power-to-weight ratio of a 1000hp Viper/Corvette!

My friend Shance recently forwarded this article, which got me thinking about track cars again. (yeah, these are real fantasy cars right now... don't hold your breath for a ride.) The Ariel Atom, Porsche 911 GT3, Radical SR3, Caterham 7- these are probably the top picks in my mind right now. (assuming a fantasy budget of around $100K or so...)

The Atom is definitely a contender. Top Gear has an awesome video of Jeremy Clarkson driving the Atom without a helmet, and you can see his face distorted from the G-forces/wind.

Radical makes some cool looking cars. Main drawback is that they aren't street legal. Performance is on par with the Ariel. Evo Magazine rated the Radical the Trackday car of the year in 2003.

Seen a couple on the tracks - and I haven't been as impressed as I thought I should/would be. It seems there is a driving school at Spring Mountain Raceway in Pahrump, NV where one car drive these cars to get a test drive of sorts. I might have to try that... :)

Caterham 7's have always been retro-cool, but I've never been that fond of their looks, and I don't think the performance is on par with the Ariel or Radical. One of Sarah's friends from the UK got married in one of these cars - I thought that was pretty cool.

The Porsche just seems a little underpowered with almost 3x the weight and "only" 415hp. Still the most practical of all the 4 cars mentioned here though. (Yeah, you read it here first, folks. I called a Porsche practical.)

Of course there's always the option of a purpose-built, single seater formula car like the Pro Formula Mazda... 240hp rotary engine, 1100 lbs - These are probably the ideal car for corner carving, and have the most technology built into the cars - brake bias, sway bar adjustments in the cockpit, along with extensive data logging... It seems too much like work and less about weekend fun than the other cars here...

Oh well - one of these days... :)