Jay Leno's Garage

By Jay Leno
Published in the March 2008 issue of Popular Mechanics.

Do you really have to spend $200,000 to $300,000 or more for the privilege of owning an exotic supercar? The short answer is no. It's not exactly easy to make a car go fast, handle well or stop on a dime. But it's much harder to get the windshield to seal properly, the doors to close correctly and the a/c to blow cool air; you know, the little things. Fact is, some automakers don't care much about that stuff. They focus on what they know best: power, handling and brakes—the basics. And that is what you get with Brammo Motorsports' Ariel Atom 2, a basic supercar stripped of all the little things.

Luxurious, the Atom ain't. It's more like a high-performance motorcycle than an automobile. It has no doors, no roof and not much in the way of fenders. It's sort of like a fancy watch with a see-through dial. The insides are exposed for all to see. When you depress the brake pedal, you can watch the brake caliper grip the disc, then see the rotor heat up and glow. It's wild.

Though not exactly cheap (the Atom costs a cool 88 grand), it is somewhat of a bargain among speedy exotics. It can accelerate faster than cars costing 10 times as much (like the Ferrari Enzo), has catlike reflexes and goes from 60 to 0 in the blink of an eye. What more do you want?

When I first approached Brammo about purchasing an Atom, the vehicle was only available in the United Kingdom and the company was using a Honda Civic Type R powerplant, which is not available here in the United States. I asked, "What would it take to get an American engine in this thing?" So they replaced the Type R with GM's 2.0-liter Ecotec Stage 3. It's basically the same DOHC engine found in the Chevy Cobalt SS but has been modified to produce around 300 hp and 250 lb.-ft. of torque. It's a beautiful little four-cylinder and emission certified for use in the States. I call it a 327 Chevy for the next generation.

Though 300 horses might not sound very "super," don't let the spec fool you. The real genius of this vehicle isn't the size of the engine but rather the vehicle's high power-to-weight ratio—i.e., the maximum power output of the vehicle per unit mass. In many ways, a power-to-weight comparison is a better way than horsepower or torque to meas­ure a car's get-up-and-go, because it considers the variable of weight. In other words, a car that seems to have a powerful engine but is also heavy may be slower off the line than a vehicle that has a similar or less powerful engine but weighs less. The Atom might only produce 300 horses, but it weighs only 1350 pounds. That's a 4.5-to-1 power-to-weight ratio. My 1000-hp, 4400-pound Bugatti Veyron has a 4.4-to-1 power-to-weight ratio. Is it possible that the Atom is as zippy as the 200-plus-mph Veyron? Yes, it is.