Keep an eye out for the Aerial Atom at VIR


K-P Garage

GT Owner
Sep 12, 2005
364
Longwood, Florida
For those of you fortunate enough to get to go to the Rally V, keep an eye out for the little Aerial atom made there at the VIR complex. In many ways they are like little GTs without a body to slow them down. Ya'll have fun.
 

FourFather

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 24, 2007
460
Wichita Falls, Texas 76306
For those of you fortunate enough to get to go to the Rally V, keep an eye out for the little Aerial atom made there at the VIR complex. In many ways they are like little GTs without a body to slow them down. Ya'll have fun.

By all means, DO check out the Ariel Atoms that are built by TMI AutoTech right there at VIR! I've had my Heritage GT and my Ariel Atom for 3 1/2+ years now, and it is hard to put into words how much I've enjoyed both!

EddieandAtomandFordGTinshop-1.jpg


I have about 3000 miles on my Heritage, and about 6500 on my Atom. I've never tracked my GT, mainly 'cause I want to keep it pristine, but I don't worry about possible damage to the Atom. For one reason, the Atom is less than half the money involved--plus, what is there to hurt? So I have tracked the Atom almost every time Hallett, near Tulsa, and Eagles Canyon at Decatur, Texas, has had a track day, and probably at least half of my miles have been on track. 1.75 gee in corners (with an occasional data point over two gee:eek, on slicks) has been HUGE fun for me, and I get SO much more drive-time than I did while dragracing! :lol

And, if it is OK to mention it here, my www.eddiehillsfuncycles.com dealership is now the exclusive Authorized Ariel Atom Dealer for all of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, and I am also authorized to sell to any state within 1000 miles of Wichita Falls, Texas, excluding any part of Arizona or Virginia. My new personal/company demo Ariel Atom 3 is either finished, or very nearly finished, and is due to be picked up by the transport company there at VIR very soon. So if you go by there, you can see my new Atom before I get to see it!

My new Ariel is the RED and Carbon Fiber one, with the large rear tires and the Carbon Fiber wings on each end.

Check it out, if you can.

Eddie:biggrin
 

Superfly

HERITAGE GT OWNER
Mark II Lifetime
Jun 23, 2008
2,210
Edmonton, Alberta
Now THAT ^^^^ looks like a balls to the walls fun kinda ride. 1.75-2 G's in corners?? Wows!!!
 

THamonGT

GT
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Eddie its great to hear from you today as your name was mentioned at Chips first night dinner as to what we could do to get you and your wife to join us at a rally in the future. Please try as you would really enjoy it. I promise. Tomy Hamon
 

FourFather

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 24, 2007
460
Wichita Falls, Texas 76306
Now THAT ^^^^ looks like a balls to the walls fun kinda ride. 1.75-2 G's in corners?? Wows!!!

It really is! I'll see if I can put my Gee graph on here-

GeegraphAtom1min19secondlapHallett.jpg


The inner circle is 1.25 gee, and the outer circle is 2.5 gee. The upper part of the graph is braking gee, and the lower half is acceleration. The right half shows gee in left-handers, and the data points on the left screen is, of course , gee turning right. It literally took several weekends to get my neck muscles in shape!:lol

Eddie:biggrin
 

roketman

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 24, 2005
8,006
ma.
I had the pleasure to drive an Ariel Atom today at VIR.
What a blast ! Many, many thanks to Shelby Smith for letting me drive it!
Roketman
 

FourFather

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 24, 2007
460
Wichita Falls, Texas 76306
Eddie its great to hear from you today as your name was mentioned at Chips first night dinner as to what we could do to get you and your wife to join us at a rally in the future. Please try as you would really enjoy it. I promise. Tomy Hamon

Thanks, Tomy. I'm sure it would be great fun! Thanks for thinking of us!

Eddie
 

dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
I went out for Ron for about 15 minutes in the Atom and it was great fun. Especially when he would rub my thigh on the straights. :lol

The real reason it's great to be a passenger in the Atom is (for those of us that don't know what we're doing) you really get to watch the car and the driver work. I spent alot of time watching Ron's feet in it, because I do not heel-toe or rev-match and he does constantly. Just being able to get an unobstructed view to how Ron was using his feet while breaking and shifting was very worthwhile...
 

FourFather

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
May 24, 2007
460
Wichita Falls, Texas 76306
"you really get to watch the car and the driver work."

Roger that, and how cool is it to be able to see exactly where the tire patch is on the apex of the turn!! No excuse for missing apexes with an Atom.
 

ChipBeck

GT Owner
Staff member
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 13, 2006
5,773
Scottsdale, Arizona
Roketman Ron

I went out for Ron for about 15 minutes in the Atom and it was great fun. Especially when he would rub my thigh on the straights. :lol

The real reason it's great to be a passenger in the Atom is (for those of us that don't know what we're doing) you really get to watch the car and the driver work. I spent alot of time watching Ron's feet in it, because I do not heel-toe or rev-match and he does constantly. Just being able to get an unobstructed view to how Ron was using his feet while breaking and shifting was very worthwhile...

For our members who have not driven with "Roketman Ron", don't ever pass up the opportunity. I rode with him 3 times in 3 different cars and each ride was mind blowing. In the 5.0 Mustang in the rain he was pulling lateral G's and posting lap times that should have been impossible, all the while talking to me and describing what he was doing and what others were doing wrong. In my TTGT, he was almost always in a higher gear than I was, using half as much throttle, half as much braking, and going twice as fast passing everybody. In his own GT that he was willing to drive more aggressively than my car, he was untouchable, again, talking to me the whole time to describe the process. It was a revelation. We didn't go over lift throttle oversteer though! :eek I have way more equipment than skill and Ron has inspired me to spend a week at our local Bonderant driving school. Thanks again Ron.

Chip
 

twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,063
Las Vegas, NV
For our members who have not driven with "Roketman Ron", don't ever pass up the opportunity. I rode with him 3 times in 3 different cars and each ride was mind blowing. In the 5.0 Mustang in the rain he was pulling lateral G's and posting lap times that should have been impossible, all the while talking to me and describing what he was doing and what others were doing wrong. In my TTGT, he was almost always in a higher gear than I was, using half as much throttle, half as much braking, and going twice as fast passing everybody. In his own GT that he was willing to drive more aggressively than my car, he was untouchable, again, talking to me the whole time to describe the process. It was a revelation. We didn't go over lift throttle oversteer though! :eek I have way more equipment than skill and Ron has inspired me to spend a week at our local Bonderant driving school. Thanks again Ron.

Chip

Chip, try to talk with Bob personally. When I bought my Cobra he was at the auction and we talked. He told me that if I took his regular course that when I was done he would take me out onto the track and skid pad with the Cobra. At his school you'll learn the techniques in the GM products (Corvette and Cadillac) but nothing is the same as doing it in your own car. I didn't get down there this summer to take him up on his offer.
 

pe2unia

GT
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
We didn't go over lift throttle oversteer though! I have way more equipment than skill and Ron has inspired me to spend a week at our local Bonderant driving school. Thanks again Ron.

:lol:lol:lol As I told you Friday Chip "safe"!:lol:lol:lol

Hey Chip Terry, Monica, and I were talking about going to the week long school as well so if you want to hook up with us please let me know. (Maybe V would want to go also)