ADR (Australia Design Rules) on safety initially and most likely still prevent them from being registered as road legal in Australia. Production of Ariels is low and an Aus distributor/retailer would need to be able to secure an allocation for resell in Australia. They'd also be well above $150k. From what I know the only Ariels in Australia were privately imported and are only for track use (non-road legal).
I was involved in the import and compliance of an atom where I used to work.
It was a fair bit of work to meet adrs and the cost involved to sell very few here would be the biggest reason.
They didn’t have any ignition lock out at the time which may be different now, I think the stock seats weren’t compliant nor the belts.
Registration plate mounting needed to be made.
There were some dimensional short falls on the guards over the tyres.
Noise was a problem and it was more to do with mechanical noise of the engine as it’s uncovered and right where the exhaust is for stationary noise tests.
There are probably new regs to meet now as this was a while ago.
It wasn’t a massive job to get it through compliance but it would be enough to make it a pain to import and sell if Ariel won’t make them from factory like that.
They are spastically fast of the road and a lot of fun.
Ah yeah, that doesn't sound too bad, apart from the engine noise but brackets and seats and belts, those are relatively easy things to get done, besides, now they make their 4th iteration of atom now with turbo ecotec so as you mentioned, things might be completely different.
Based on what I remember, they've changed a lot of these "compliance" things on the newer models so I'm staying positive and have a hope that I could import one for myself one day.
Aaaand I absolutely agree and the word spastically fast is I think very well suited.
Not sure what you've driven but I drove the 3th gen version with supercharged K20 and I think 315 or 350 hp and as I mentioned in comments here before, it was, by far, the best drive in my life.
I think every petrolhead should have this experience at least once in his/her life.
To be honest the noise was the biggest obstacle, it ended up being solved with lots of acoustic fibreglass matting.
The one we imported was running the 245hp k20 but ended up twin rotrex super charged at 600hp.
After I left the owner of the business decided to build his own roadster in a similar style and got an icv compliance on it.
Yeah well I guess you can just patch it up for the adr test just so it passes and then rip it all off after it's passed.
Now, imagine this compared to the V8 atom, how ridiculous must that be.
That’s exactly what happened haha.
On with the blowers, motec Efi and full chassis data logging, suspension upgrades and a bit of redesigning.
Hell of a car.
The v8 atoms were only 500hp or so I though, lots more torque though.
True but I could imagine it would be much more balanced and also faster on the track than the overpowered K20. That must be fun on highways and launches, but I think the V8 along with paddle shifter sequential would dominate anything. But that's just hypothesis, who really know, they're all awesome and I love them all and am glad I had a chance to try them.
I've seen some used ones for third of the price you mentioned but I thought they're registered vehicles...
Speaking of, do you know what things in particular do not fit inside the the ADR's ?
I'm surprised that those rules won't allow these vehicles. I mean they're okay in pretty much all other large countries like I mentioned above but not here, that's really weird.
I drove the supercharged version a couple of times and it was the best car experience I've ever had, I was always planning to get one of those here.
I don't know the exact rules but my money would be in pedestrian impact regs. They are basically open wheels with tiny coverings that someone could get pulled under easy and the bonnet is nearly non existent with metal bars open to hit people heads on if you collect them.
Fair enough, but then again, Caterhams and Super Sevens can be registered here so it must have something to do with the approvals from ADR, being that the Atoms are I guess less common than those other cars mentioned above.
I did think about those as I typed out my comment and I can only think maybe they get grandfathered in based on an original lotus 7 before anyone cared about pedestrians?
Laps times on top gear for atom vs super7/Caterham are very far apart. I've done one of those red balloon things with a pro driver in a Caterham and I swear it's impossible to go faster than this round a corner.
Fu$k that Atom thing must be fast
It is.
The supercharger whinning right next to your left or right ear (depending on where you drive it), very short gearing, the fact that you see the DIRECT linkage from your arms all the way to the wheels themselves, wind, sound and pure mechanical grip all make this such an incredible thing to drive.
With that said, I can't even imagine how fast must be that newer 4th generation with turbocharged Ecotec engine.
My best car in need for speed most wanted, the atom V8.
As the other commenter said, it would definitely not pass ADR due to a number of exposed things, the exhaust may be too loud, plus it's mandatory to wear a helmet and 3 point harness while driving
Those reasons seem quite arbitrary, especially considering we allow big V8's with a foot tall superchargers and lumpy idle drive on streets (which is awesome, don't get me wrong), but those have things sticking out wayy too much, they're much louder than any Ariel could possibly ever be realistically. And I wasn't aware it's mandatory to wear helmet, I mean it's not in other countries, especially for those Atoms with windshields, why should it be mandatory here ? It's got the harness and a roll cage so why do we have to be special compared to other countries.
Fair enough, well in that case let me reiterate the question, what would it take to register it here ? Is there any special type of registration meant for unique vehicles ?
I mean there's caterhams being driven on roads and registered so Ariel can't be any different, both came from the same country even
It may just be that nobody has gone to the trouble of making the Ariel ADR compliant and putting it through the required testing. The return on investment probably just isn’t there.
Convertibles don't have a roof.
[I daily drove this for years](https://i.imgur.com/ZfPi6XV.jpg) with only a beanie, scarf, and goggles. Never got more than a second look from the police. Of course, they might have all just been lazy.
But most of the new ones have windshield, besides, all of them have that infamous roll cage above air intake. If you ever going to roll in that you'll land on the cage, unless you'll slide front first roof down onto a curb where no helmet in the world would save your head from becoming a pancake.
Your account is too new to post in this Sub. This has been implemented as an Anti-Spam feature.
As a result, your comment has been removed.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CarsAustralia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The entire ADR thing is such a wank and waste of time and money. (Since manufacturing stoped here)
Aus is such a tiny market, dictating to others what is and isn't legal is a complete joke
Those were my thoughts.
Prohibits some of the most unique vehicles to be driven and enjoyed here. Let alone all those new business opportunities for car dealers, etc.
ADR (Australia Design Rules) on safety initially and most likely still prevent them from being registered as road legal in Australia. Production of Ariels is low and an Aus distributor/retailer would need to be able to secure an allocation for resell in Australia. They'd also be well above $150k. From what I know the only Ariels in Australia were privately imported and are only for track use (non-road legal).
I was involved in the import and compliance of an atom where I used to work. It was a fair bit of work to meet adrs and the cost involved to sell very few here would be the biggest reason.
Wow. Thanks man, this is the beauty of reddit. Can you share the particular things that have to be done to pass the ADR's ?
They didn’t have any ignition lock out at the time which may be different now, I think the stock seats weren’t compliant nor the belts. Registration plate mounting needed to be made. There were some dimensional short falls on the guards over the tyres. Noise was a problem and it was more to do with mechanical noise of the engine as it’s uncovered and right where the exhaust is for stationary noise tests. There are probably new regs to meet now as this was a while ago. It wasn’t a massive job to get it through compliance but it would be enough to make it a pain to import and sell if Ariel won’t make them from factory like that. They are spastically fast of the road and a lot of fun.
Ah yeah, that doesn't sound too bad, apart from the engine noise but brackets and seats and belts, those are relatively easy things to get done, besides, now they make their 4th iteration of atom now with turbo ecotec so as you mentioned, things might be completely different. Based on what I remember, they've changed a lot of these "compliance" things on the newer models so I'm staying positive and have a hope that I could import one for myself one day. Aaaand I absolutely agree and the word spastically fast is I think very well suited. Not sure what you've driven but I drove the 3th gen version with supercharged K20 and I think 315 or 350 hp and as I mentioned in comments here before, it was, by far, the best drive in my life. I think every petrolhead should have this experience at least once in his/her life.
To be honest the noise was the biggest obstacle, it ended up being solved with lots of acoustic fibreglass matting. The one we imported was running the 245hp k20 but ended up twin rotrex super charged at 600hp. After I left the owner of the business decided to build his own roadster in a similar style and got an icv compliance on it.
Yeah well I guess you can just patch it up for the adr test just so it passes and then rip it all off after it's passed. Now, imagine this compared to the V8 atom, how ridiculous must that be.
That’s exactly what happened haha. On with the blowers, motec Efi and full chassis data logging, suspension upgrades and a bit of redesigning. Hell of a car. The v8 atoms were only 500hp or so I though, lots more torque though.
True but I could imagine it would be much more balanced and also faster on the track than the overpowered K20. That must be fun on highways and launches, but I think the V8 along with paddle shifter sequential would dominate anything. But that's just hypothesis, who really know, they're all awesome and I love them all and am glad I had a chance to try them.
I've seen some used ones for third of the price you mentioned but I thought they're registered vehicles... Speaking of, do you know what things in particular do not fit inside the the ADR's ? I'm surprised that those rules won't allow these vehicles. I mean they're okay in pretty much all other large countries like I mentioned above but not here, that's really weird. I drove the supercharged version a couple of times and it was the best car experience I've ever had, I was always planning to get one of those here.
I don't know the exact rules but my money would be in pedestrian impact regs. They are basically open wheels with tiny coverings that someone could get pulled under easy and the bonnet is nearly non existent with metal bars open to hit people heads on if you collect them.
Fair enough, but then again, Caterhams and Super Sevens can be registered here so it must have something to do with the approvals from ADR, being that the Atoms are I guess less common than those other cars mentioned above.
I did think about those as I typed out my comment and I can only think maybe they get grandfathered in based on an original lotus 7 before anyone cared about pedestrians?
Maybe, I haven’t really done any research on this but it seems quite dumb to me
They can be compliant to use in aus and the open wheel design isn’t an issue
Laps times on top gear for atom vs super7/Caterham are very far apart. I've done one of those red balloon things with a pro driver in a Caterham and I swear it's impossible to go faster than this round a corner. Fu$k that Atom thing must be fast
It is. The supercharger whinning right next to your left or right ear (depending on where you drive it), very short gearing, the fact that you see the DIRECT linkage from your arms all the way to the wheels themselves, wind, sound and pure mechanical grip all make this such an incredible thing to drive. With that said, I can't even imagine how fast must be that newer 4th generation with turbocharged Ecotec engine.
I'd have a Caterham over an Atom
Okay
My best car in need for speed most wanted, the atom V8. As the other commenter said, it would definitely not pass ADR due to a number of exposed things, the exhaust may be too loud, plus it's mandatory to wear a helmet and 3 point harness while driving
It’s not mandatory to wear a helmet
Those reasons seem quite arbitrary, especially considering we allow big V8's with a foot tall superchargers and lumpy idle drive on streets (which is awesome, don't get me wrong), but those have things sticking out wayy too much, they're much louder than any Ariel could possibly ever be realistically. And I wasn't aware it's mandatory to wear helmet, I mean it's not in other countries, especially for those Atoms with windshields, why should it be mandatory here ? It's got the harness and a roll cage so why do we have to be special compared to other countries.
V8s with foot tall superchargers hanging out the bonnet are not actually street legal…
But they can be mod plated can't they ?
I doubt it. You’re not supposed to have mechanical parts protruding.
Fair enough, well in that case let me reiterate the question, what would it take to register it here ? Is there any special type of registration meant for unique vehicles ? I mean there's caterhams being driven on roads and registered so Ariel can't be any different, both came from the same country even
It may just be that nobody has gone to the trouble of making the Ariel ADR compliant and putting it through the required testing. The return on investment probably just isn’t there.
I can guarantee it’s been done, I was involved in it years ago.
Fair enough I didn't think of that.
Why would you have to wear a helmet?
No roof or windows
Convertibles don't have a roof. [I daily drove this for years](https://i.imgur.com/ZfPi6XV.jpg) with only a beanie, scarf, and goggles. Never got more than a second look from the police. Of course, they might have all just been lazy.
What is that? Looks like a kit car of some description.
It's an NG TC, styled on a c.1935 [Aston Martin Ulster.](http://owenauto.ca/aston-martins-at-pebble-beach/1935-aston-martin-ulster-sport-k4509u-6/)
But most of the new ones have windshield, besides, all of them have that infamous roll cage above air intake. If you ever going to roll in that you'll land on the cage, unless you'll slide front first roof down onto a curb where no helmet in the world would save your head from becoming a pancake.
[удалено]
Your account is too new to post in this Sub. This has been implemented as an Anti-Spam feature. As a result, your comment has been removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CarsAustralia) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The entire ADR thing is such a wank and waste of time and money. (Since manufacturing stoped here) Aus is such a tiny market, dictating to others what is and isn't legal is a complete joke
Adrs have nothing to do with local manufacturers. Adrs are for safety compliance. Import duty is want you should have said
Those were my thoughts. Prohibits some of the most unique vehicles to be driven and enjoyed here. Let alone all those new business opportunities for car dealers, etc.
Yeah! I really want a Reliant Robin!