The Ariel Nomad R Blends Bonkers Style With 500bhp Per Tonne

Just five examples of the eye-popping Nomad R are being built, all with a hefty price tag and the cachet that comes with the petrolhead’s favourite letter
The Ariel Nomad R Blends Bonkers Style With 500bhp Per Tonne

If for some reason the standard Ariel Nomad is too daft and not quite fast enough for you, Crewkerne’s favourite oddball has birthed a more serious, even brisker brother: the Nomad R.

It takes the Nomad package based on Ariel’s older chassis tech and switches out a few of the parts for items better suited to tarmac blasts. Forget about your soft Fox dampers and knobbly off-road tyres and brace for super-aggressive shifts: gearing is close and short (top speed is just 122mph) through a six-speed Sadev sequential gearbox.

The Ariel Nomad R Blends Bonkers Style With 500bhp Per Tonne

Ariel pitches the ultra-rare R as a sort of tarmac rally car, with that racy transmission and soft-compound Yokohama Advan AO52 tyres in 235/40R18 all round. There are fully adjustable Bilstein dampers as standard or you can upgrade them to blingy Ohlins, but both have a firmer setup aimed at race circuits. If you like you can also spec longer gears from fourth to sixth, for higher top speeds on bigger tracks.

At the heart of this madman the Nomad’s usual 2.4-litre Honda Civic engine has been swapped out for the supercharged K20 used in the utterly certifiable Ariel Atom 3.5R. It throws 335bhp at the rear wheels from a height of 7600rpm, with peak torque of 243lb ft at 5500rpm. The lag-free supercharger means acceleration is instant and mighty so it’s fortunate that Alcon brakes are on hand to haul its 670kg to a stop.

The Ariel Nomad R Blends Bonkers Style With 500bhp Per Tonne

The 0-62mph launch is ditched in just 2.9 seconds thanks to a 500bhp per tonne power to weight ratio. It’s actually a good deal heavier than the Atom 3.5R and isn’t intended to be so visceral – the Nomad R does have a windscreen, after all – but when just five are being built, Ariel is confident of finding buyers for whom this blend of silliness and seriousness is just right.

The R is priced from £80,000 and you can order one now, if they haven’t already sold them all.

Comments

Robert Gracie

500bhp per ton, isnt something to joke about that is seriously hot stuff!

For me I will always remember the Jeremy Clarkson video of him testing another Ariel car and his face melting as a result of its power! I suspect that will be even more so with this car….its gonna be body meltingly fast!

07/16/2020 - 16:13 |
6 | 0

It could almost be the successor to the V8 Atom.

07/16/2020 - 18:52 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

I’m No(teven)mad, this is insane. I think all of them have already been sold, though..

07/16/2020 - 18:51 |
0 | 0
Unknown

Why is there only one flappy paddle? Are you only allowed to upshift??

07/16/2020 - 20:04 |
2 | 0

i’m assuming that you shift using a lever in the centre console, and the paddle is to assist with applying and removing the steering wheel.

07/16/2020 - 23:03 |
0 | 0

For race focused gearboxes like this Sadev unit, there usually is only one paddle for shifting.

Pull the paddle toward you for an upshift, and push it away from you for a downshift.

It looks like the exact same setup used on the past two generations of WRC cars.

07/17/2020 - 08:51 |
0 | 0

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