Ariel Nomad Questions and answers

[Toilet Duck]

Here's a question for current/prospective Nomad owners, out of idle curiosity, how does insurance premiums compare to Atoms? Are there more/less/same availability of insurance companies willing to offer cover? If you take the Nomad off road (as it's designed to) and bin it, are you covered?

Cheers

[PhillipM]

After reviewing that vid, its not surprising the Nomad suffers a little on track. It seemed to have a pretty soft suspension setup. Plenty of roll in the corners and lifting a front wheel!

Roll isn't a bad thing on a non-aero car so long as the geometery is controlled well enough. Suspension should only ever be as hard as required and as soft as possible...

[Peter255]

I agree good suspension geo helps (if you keep the tyre flat on the tarmac), but roll is not good for rapid changes of direction though. If you try driving through a chicane the car will be unsettled as there is a delay whilst the car rolls from one way to the other. This unsettles the weight distribution, and makes the car harder to control.

Also i'd note that your comment on suspension being "as soft as possible" is somewhat misleading. I have grown up setting up non-aero race cars (two of my family race or have raced both saloon and single seaters) and they have all been pretty stiff. Far stiffer than road cars for example. A key reason is to run them as low as possible (just over the minimum allowed) and not hit bumps in the track (massive loss of grip if you bottom out). This helps lower the centre of gravity, and reduces roll. It is only in the wet that you definitely soften the setup. All you need to try to ensure is the damping and spring rates keep the tyres on the tarmac at all times. If its bumpy a little softer may be required or different damping.

Clearly anything so soft it lifts one of the steering (front) wheels is massively compromised. Would it have half the potential front end grip? Whatever the figure its very bad for grip. FWD cars are sometimes setup to lift a rear wheel to reduce understeer (and promote oversteer), but you definitely don't want one of the front wheels in the air.

[PhillipM]

Yes, but the ride height comes into the 'hard as required' portion.

Your latter paragraph makes no sense at all, if the car is cornering so hard that there's no weight on the inside front wheel then it doesn't matter whether the wheel is in the air - there's no load there anyway, weight transfer is just a function of cornering g and track width so making the suspension harder will hurt the grip (because it will increase the variation in tyre loadings and peak loads) not help it.

Loads of RWD race cars will lift a front wheel, up to and including F1 cars. It's just what happens when you're setting up for lots of rear traction.

[russty_james]

Here's a question for current/prospective Nomad owners, out of idle curiosity, how does insurance premiums compare to Atoms? Are there more/less/same availability of insurance companies willing to offer cover? If you take the Nomad off road (as it's designed to) and bin it, are you covered?

Cheers

Insurance has been an interesting one so far..  Some of the traditional Atom insurers have refused to cover it. I think it was REIS who wouldn't insure the Nomad as it wasn't classed as a sports car, they instead classed it as a dune buggy! i've managed to get quotes from Adrian Flux, Pace Ward and Classic line insurance so far, pricing seems to be very similar to what I'd previously insured my Atom.

I'm not sure around cover off road, I guess it would depend where you were? Byway, Unadopted road etc. and if these were classed as part of the public highway.

[Peter255]

Clearly then I need to emulate the Nomad setup on my Atom. Why not it'll help with occasional speed bumps or potholes?! 

Pump up the ride height, buy new long travel coilovers. Let the thing roll like a barge in the corners lifting the front wheels. Oh and buck and squat under braking and acceleration. Why not if its just as fast?!

The Nomad as tested by EVO is setup is fine for track! I stand corrected! The guys in EVO clearly have no idea either saying its not setup right, is frustrating, and feels out of place on track. We are all idiots.

I can only ask why Atoms are ALL setup low, hard, etc and not setup like the Nomad? Why the difference? What fools Ariel. One nice high and soft setup is fine for all occasions. Who'd have thought it!

I'm out.

[PhillipM]

They're set up hard because they're lower than the bloody Nomad, or is that too hard to understand?

Car low = need more spring rate to stop it hitting the bumpstops (they're REALLY hard, try running on those, since harder makes things faster...).
Less travel available = more spring rate required.

But hey, I'm talking to someone who thinks the front wheel is magically picked up by soft suspension and not just the fact that there's no load there because of weight transfer. When an Atom will do the same thing on sticky tyres.

Do I think the Nomad is setup right? No, I think their crossovers on the twin front springs are way out and you can see it in the offroading review videos. Which is probably some of the root cause of the inconsistancies (from the abrupt rate change when turning in) Evo mention - rather than the soft setup itself.

[John Scherrer]

Nive Video of the Nomad in Northern California courtesy of eGarage ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paCXScSxrbM&feature=youtu.be

[stormcloud]

I may have to emigrate...

[Peter255]

Has any of the Nomad owners any feedback on the various adjustable suspension options now offered?

I note Ariel now offer three types of adjustable optional coilovers. Two types of adjustable Bilstein (looks like on and off road flavours), and the presumably rather expensive Ohlins!

[Andrew300]

Ariel was also testing some adjustable ones made by Fox but not what the outcome of that was...

[PhillipM]

Probably better off with the Ohlins, Foxes are rather robust and crude internally compared - but that's good on heavy offroad with lots of travel as you need the strength + heat capacity. Not so much in a Nomad.
The exchange rate killed the cost advantage there too tbh.

[kelvin12382003]

Ohins for me!! because it looks better

[Bruce Fielding]

This looks nice...



Ariel Chiron
Ariel Nomad + Bugatti Chiron

The Bugatti Chiron is one of the fastest production cars on the planet. That said, it won’t post the fastest lap times thanks to many hundreds of kilos worth of leather, infotainment and bodywork. Mix it with the skeletal Ariel Nomad, however, and you instantly solve all those issues. With just a bare minimum of bodywork and a tubular frame chassis, the only evidence of the Bugatti’s presence is the horseshoe grille and quad headlights at the front and the gigantic W16 engine nestled in the back.

More here: https://www.carwow.co.uk/blog/carwows-crazy-car-mashups

[stormcloud]

Still no boot.