We dare you to bid on this Ariel Atom

Bring a Trailer Auctions features tantalizing track weapon

Every spring here in Michigan, when the mercury creeps above 60 degrees for two consecutive days, we start getting some funny ideas about what we really need in a daily driver.

This 2011 Ariel Atom Spec Racer prototype, for example, has cupholders -- OK, they're probably speed holes -- and we’re willing to take that tiny nod to practicality and run with it.

Though the car’s Bring a Trailer auction listing claims it is “a track-only build not legal for the street,” where there’s a will there’s a way, maybe. We could take the engine out and put it back in. Would that make it a kit car?

What more do you need?

Car News Zany Prodigy: The Ariel atom is light and fast, and light. Very very light...

This is not the car they feared you would want back in high school driver’s ed—if only because no American authority figure could ever imagine a vehicle like this. For something as zany as ...

The totally tubular Atom has seen a wide range motors, from supercharged GM Ecotecs to bonkers V8s. This example gets a Honda K20Z3 and a six-speed manual transmission. The combo was good in the Civic Si and has to be even more excellent here.

Bidding on the car ends next week; a comparable example listed for $35,000 should give you some idea of what this Atom might hammer for. Even at that price, however, the Atom punches way, way above its miniscule weight with addictive handling and blinding speed. A 0-60 mph sprint is accomplished in just 2.8 seconds. Not quite as speedy as a 918 Spyder, true, but we’d venture it feels faster what with the near total lack of bodywork and all.

With its Honda four-cylinder, the Ariel Atom won't win any horsepower wars -- but that's hardly the point of this finely honed track weapon.

Car News Ariel Nomad off-road buggy: Detailed specs revealed

Ariel revealed the complete details of the Nomad, a new off-road project, on Tuesday.Like the tube-frame Atom track car, also made by Ariel, the Nomad is a featherweight, coming in at just 1,477 ...

Winning bid includes a track day at Atlanta Motorsports Park (or a half-day driving school), an honorary degree from Crazy Go Nuts University and the right to sneer at Miata owners for driving porky, coddling faux-enthusiast roadsters. There are plenty of photos at Bring a Trailer -- check them out, and then spend the weekend getting your finances in order.

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