Progress report: 1996 Ariel Atom LSC vs 2022 Ariel Atom 4

Planning an extension, are you? What's with all the scaffolding?

Very funny. But we’re not erecting a new grandstand at the Top Gear Track, rather this selection of metal beams represents the two bookends that sandwich the 27-year legacy of one of the most extreme, exciting, physical and fast ways to get from A to B: the Ariel Atom.

I've never seen that orange beaky thing before.

Not many people have. That’s the Atom LSC – the prototype windscreen and doorless lightweight brainchild of Ariel’s boss Simon Saunders. You might recognise the other, that’s his latest work – the most thorough overhaul of the Ariel Atom in its history, the 320bhp, 595kg turbocharged Atom 4.

Nearly 30 years of progress and he still hasn't thought of a roof?

He never will. Ever since reading a chassis design book aged 13 (there was no TikTok back then) Simon saw a rolling chassis with a V8 on it. On the next page was the same chassis with a body on and it wasn’t half as exciting. This has stayed with him for life. As well as his love of motorcycles and things being visual, engaging and the sum of their parts.

What's the deal with the LSC?

It was Simon’s first attempt. Initially a project he worked on with Coventry University but then took independently with his friends and industry contacts, it’s his interpretation of minimalist motoring. Feeling that the Gordon Murray Rocket was too expensive and the Renault Spider missing the point, he wanted to do a truly revolutionary lightweight take on the Lotus Seven.

Given there's nowt to them, I'm guessing there's not too much progress?

You couldn’t be more wrong. Considering there’s no bodywork it’s quite remarkable that you can see visual ageing between the two. Although the skeletal nature of an Atom tricks your brain into thinking they’re the same, each one is completely new. No parts from the LSC were carried over to Atom 1. The 1999 Atom 1 used a Rover K-Series, the Atom 2 came along with the switch to Honda power in 2003, the Atom 3 had a whole new chassis and suspension set up and the Atom 4 is basically a clean sheet design: the pedal box, the fuel cap, the steering wheel and top six inches of the steering column are the only parts carried over from Atom 3. That’s it.

I stand corrected. I guess they're very different to drive then?

Worlds apart. You sit on the LSC where you sit in the Atom 4. Simon has always wanted to give people a motorbike sensation without the vulnerability, and this is where real progress has been made. The LSC uses a placid 1.7-litre Ford Puma engine good for around 125bhp, has rock hard Koni dampers and crazy, quick steering lacking feel. The Atom 4 is a visceral rocket of energy and excitement, with three boost maps, all the best turbo noises, a complex stiff chassis paired with a honed Ohlins suspension setup that adds comfort, control, anti-dive and anti-squat and shed loads of grip. But what hasn’t changed is that they both offer an utterly intoxicating and involving way of going fast with no weight.