I visited Ariel in about nov 15, to take a test drive & get a look around.
I thought the n/a demo (all that was made back then) was a bit slow.
I have always had quick cars, so don’t be put off.
Shortly after my visit, the s/c version was announced, so I new I had to have that one despite the costs.
Anyway fast forward to 2017 and the car is ready, probably cost about £20k more than I had originally planned, but what the heck, always happens on Grand designs
Caught the train from Derby to Taunton & waiting for me was this beauty, I was blown away
Even though it was March , the weather was superb.
My son & I had a wonderful weekend driving through wales & back to Derby, we completed about 400 miles.
The car was off to Isle of Man in May, so I quickly got the miles up to about 800 for the run in service & we had a superb weekend on the Island & a little off road.
This is our group opening the mountain course, before the TT
The car is fab on road, most fun at not too stupid speeds.
I have become an expert at managing the use of the car in all weathers.
Rain is a total pita, once you have puddles on the road, you get completely drenched, I once had the foot wells half full with water & the passenger seat full of water.
I have added my own plexi glass side panels & these make the car much warmer and 300% less windy. At the moment in this really hot weather or above say 22degrees, they are best removed.
When in traffic, you get fried in the car, eyes are fixed on the temp gauge reaching 94 degrees & a blast of hot air from the fan warms you up just in case you were getting chilly
I met a friend in Elvedon forest area for a weekend in October last year & we had a fun day green laning. There are so many tracks around there you can drive for hours.
The S/C car is so powerful, that off road you need a fair bit of restraint as its performance soon exceeds your talent
Cleaning the car took a whole weeks worth of my spare time after this day, seats out , wheels off etc etc.
Shortly after this day my final use of the car for 2017 was at a track day at Donnington.
I have plenty of track experience over the years , & can honestly say it was the best track day I ever experienced.
We were not the fastest on the circuit, but had way more fun than everyone else & my sides hurt with laughing at the end of the day.
The car is such a lot of fun & we were taking craners flat out at about 110 mph and just throwing it into the bottom corner on full,opposite lock
Pretty much destroyed a set of tyres on that day
The car went away for the winter in my garage & what a long winter we had
Once we had a glimmer of sunshine , I was back out again & had a little excursion due to my winter lack of driving, after all of you don’t crash occasionally, you aren’t going fast enough
I have no idea how we managed to get the car out of that ditch, my wife’s Dacia duster came to the rescue .
The ironic thing was that I just had a Warn winch delivered that week, but hadn’t fitted it yet
I have now fitted the winch, should have specced it at the start, but it was fun fitting it on .
Henry & the guys at Ariel were most helpful with this & sent me a load of info & pictures of how to do the job.
It helps that I run a garage, so have all the required tools etc, it’s not exactly a diy job.
Anyway, bad bits about the car.
The heater is rubbish, non existent in the cold & red hot when it’s hot (joke )
The steering lock is horrendous , I use the skid brake for tight turns where possible.
The car is very wide same as my F10 M5, so you have to take care on country lanes, for oncoming traffic.
Fuel consumption is the worst of any car I have owned except my Mitsubishi Evo a few years back.i just did 205 miles this weekend on the road & it did 16.8 mpg
I do go quite fast though 
To summarise then, obviously I love it, for all its many faults.
Can’t imagine I will ever sell it, it’s the only car I will just go out & drive for fun, and I have some good cars.
Hope I haven’t bored you all , one last pic
