Nomad has landed (finally!) - Initial thoughts / review

[russty_james]

No problem, it was good fun! Your quote has stuck with me,

"The right Ariel for the right area"

Nice to take someone out who appreciated the extra torque and the Ohlins... Most people (non-Atom owners) have been scared stupid and not noticed a thing! Definitely slower on track, more fun who knows?!? I'll have to resist using the hydraulic handbrake so not to get black flagged!

[stormcloud]

The roll is an extra fascination.

You know how you lose something on a track if you have an auto box, well the roll is the opposite, one more thing to keep it all interesting. Henry has said drifting is easy and potentially a TD problem. 

Nomad is now back at the factory for 500 mile spanner check and tactical hood fitting, looks good!

A few more notes, non-s/c Nomad is not as quick as the reviews make out (albeit I'm still carrying the massive geolander spare  ). It is however plenty for the super off-road geolander tyres. Also, I'm swapping them out ASAP for some 15s all-terrain, I'm not comfortable on the motorway at 70+10% on the knobblies.

[Andrew300]

and tactical hood fitting, looks good!










Post some pictures up of that when you get chance .....

[PhillipM]

You know how you lose something on a track if you have an auto box, well the roll is the opposite, one more thing to keep it all interesting. Henry has said drifting is easy and potentially a TD problem.  .

Soft springs and Geolanders will mean you can hold four wheel drifts at silly angles without the usual tyre squeal, etc*, so you shouldn't have much issue with black flags or noise on track, they need quite a bit of sideslip to generate grip anyway.
The other benefit is you're on trackdays around now when it's frosty in the morning you'll get a track to yourself to play on whilst all the trailer queens hide in the cafe hoping for the frost to go 

We took the Fouquet to Oulton around this time on year when there'd been a heavy frost overnight, even on geolanders (well, same pattern but in a soft forest compound rather than the hard road) - nothing came close, even when the track cleared and the sun came out, it took a Radical to roll off it's trailer after dinner when the track had warmed enough for slicks to be the only car to come past 

I had one guy behind us nearly crash though, in a 200SX, and when I asked him whether he'd been trying to chase us he replied:
"No, I'd backed off to cool down and come into the pits, and then you came onto the pitstraight behind me crossed up, wheels spinning and leaning like a ship in a gale and I damned near crashed into the pitwall laughing after you came past"
 

Mind, after 6-7 laps there was molten rubber coming off the knobblies...




*See, nice and quiet, skip the dodgy slow-mo at the beginning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGQqXl7pBDI

[stormcloud]

For those who are interested, hood fitted, and it's a mixed bag.

Bad news first, although it was only ever meant as a sun visor for those in sunny USA, it looks pretty poor from most angles. It is also made from seemingly cheap material, that's the bad news.

The good news is that in principle, having a cover on the Nomad does change the experience quite markedly and really differentiates it from 'an Atom with long suspension travel'. The edge of the roof frame is wide enough to be used in inclement weather to keep your noggin dry and most of your upper body. The darkened, more enclosed cabin makes you focus on the road ahead a lot more as any peripheral distractions are no longer present. It just feels a more serious piece of kit when enclosed, it could of course be that I'm so easily distracted I need the roof to focus.

Fortunately I only ever bought this as a template from which I'm going to pass to those more skilled than me to make suitable alterations. The hood needs to be clearly wider and fastened to the roof frame edge in some neat way, from inside I'd like to add a canvas wrap to at least the centre roof piece and front roof bars to make it look more integrated.

I can't recommend the hood as it is, also the factory are at least going to produce a few copies (potentially with alterations of their own) and maybe with better materials, it'll be interesting to see what they come up with. With factory speed as it is, I'm pressing ahead and hope to have something fully fitted before easter.

[Peter255]

With some improvements it looks like a must have addition tbh. If its easy to remove and keeps you drier I can see it being essential.

Thanks for the feedback. Looking forward to the mk2 review!