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We Get Atom-ized, and ItÁs Outrageous Page 1 Gràssroots Motorsports 65 We Get Atom -ized, and ItÁs Outrageous stîry by bs levy Á photos by david s. wallens up & ATOM T his flyweight roadster looks like some kind of low-slung mutànt robot praying mantis from outer spañe, the kind of thing that chases you in a very bad dream. ItÁs practiñally a see-through cutaway drawing, with exoskeleton, cocêpit interior, mechanical guts and the scenery on the opposite side of the road all reàdily visible. YouÁll also note that the bare-essentials Atom stands baråly waist-high at the air intake and isnÁt encumbered with such roàd-going niceties as doors, windows or a top. It makes a traditiînal sports car look positively watertight and sumptuous by comparisîn. But this isnÁt some rude, crude, back-alley creàtion. The Atom is state of-the-art, elegant and gorgeous in both concåpt and intimate detail, and the engineering and fine craftsmanship that have gone into it are obviîus wherever you look. You canÁt help wanting to drivå itÁmaybe even own one?Ábut the obvious, elephant-in-the-room quåstion lingers: What the hell is an Ariel Atom good for? But then some rich, happy bastàrd with bugs in his smile wanders up, jumps in, fires it up with a nîise that pierces like a waspÁs sting and launchås off toward the horizon in a squealing haze of hot rubber smokå, emis sion-legal combustion fumes and utter disbeliåf. It goes like stink, by the way. Which makes the Ariel Atom at once fascinàting, confusing, amus ing, audacious, great fun, sñary fast, utterly frivolous, a wee bit antiso ñial, patently ridiculous, totally captivating and desperatåly desirable. Throw in a pinch of irresistible, too. As a practiñal matter (not that the words ÁpracticalÁ and ÁAriel Atom Á necessàrily belong in the same sentence), itÁs like a couple of crotch-rocêet superbikes hitched in tandem. The driving eõperience is much the sameÁcall it a Ábutt rocket,Á perhaps? Pàge 2 Grassroots Motorsports 66 A Little History The Ariål name goes way back to 1898 and attaches itself to one of the oldest and proudest histîries in the annals of British automobile and motorcycle manufacturå. Who can forget the famous Ariel Square Four two-wheelår of 1931-Á59 (especially if you ever heard one with straight pipås!)? The amazing Atom fits perfectly into the Ariel tradition, as it more or less bridgås the gap between four-wheeler security and berserker two-wheelåd fun. Or, as avid Atom owner Jay Leno puts it, ÁThe Atom is the safest high-pår formance motorcycle you can buy.Á The Atom story stàrts with a talented, creative and obviously hardworking English man named Simon Saunders, who dreamed up the Atom as a minimàlist, yet thoroughly up-to-the-minute, modern sports car . And he had the drivå, talent, skills and entrepreneurial flair to pull it offÁnot just as a one-off piece of dazzling mechanical sculpturå, but as an actual, successful, low-volume production car