I sold my Atom 2,300 in 2010 and whilst I had the occasional use of a 3,300 for a while after that, I haven't driven an Atom on track for four years and just thought I'd share how it felt compared to the old car.
I had only driven the car a few times on the road since I got it and hadn't found the space or road to push it in any way, so it was really a question of starting very gently and hoping that I felt at home again at some point in the afternoon. I wanted some room in case I cocked it up, so just did a day at Abingdon Airfield. Easily made the 100db limit, with a polished exhaust and cat bypass fitted.
I set the tyre pressures (15 rear, 13 front), checked the Oil (which I did a further 3 times in the day....none used at all
), adjusted the suspension to be a bit stiff but still forgiving (9 rear, 7 front) and set off.I spent the sighting laps just making sure everything felt tight and good (there's a loose steering wheel story, but that's for another day
)My previous history told me that the car was likely to feed in quite a lot of initial understeer, followed by an interesting helping of oversteer if I got too enthusiastic! Two gentle laps in and everything up to temperature, I decided to start pushing on. The very first time I got fully on the power and then committed to a corner, it was glaringly obvious just how far the Atom has moved on. The car was so much more neutral than before and even though I know I wasn't going mad, it was so much easier to drive, still very challenging but just much easier to get it to go where you want.
The day carried on in this vein and before we'd even got to lunchtime, I felt massively comfortable pushing on. The steering is significantly more direct and precise than before and the new mapping is a comparative revelation...the power kick from the S/C is so much more linear than before. You can really explore its potential without feeling like it's trying to kill you
The other thing is the brakes...Alcons all round, so stopping power is obviously great but the thing that felt like a huge change again was stability under braking. I had one moment when I was overtaking a first-time driven Lotus 2-11 and he decided to come straight across my nose. We were doing about 100mph and I had to change direction pretty rapido and get full on the brakes. It was a bit of a brown pants moment but the car was pretty epic to be honest. Speed was scrubbed off without fuss and although it was obviously a bit twitchy, due to taking the weight off the back, it settled down so much more quickly than my old car would have done, which I think would have resulted in a spin.
As mentioned before, I wasn't going crazy, nor am I as quick as some guys, but the only thing that came by me all day was a crazy Crate driver with an Agenda. I let him past then watched him spin merrily 2 corners later. I was super mature about it
I drove the car home again, having forgotten to change the suspension back again and it was still all good.
All in all, I really feel that the differences are Night and Day. I'm already looking forward to my next day (Spa in June) and thinking about what difference the Ohlins and some stiffer springs would make.
Cheers,
Stu
