Ariel. You may associate that name with the Atom – a bonkers barebones single-seater track car that made Clarkson look like this…
Alternatively, the name might spark fond memories of washing detergent or Disney’s red-haired mermaid that goes around trading her ability to speak with villainous sea witches.
Forget about that though, Ariel is a car brand first and foremost and the manufacturer of two of the daftest production cars in recent memory – the Atom and the Nomad buggy – but it has also dabbled in the world of two-wheels in the past too with its Ace motorbike.
Ariel will soon be offering a hotter version of the bike with the Ace R, which uses a tuned 1,237cc Unicam Honda V4 engine.
Numbers are sketchy for now but Ariel promises that the new bike will boast a “substantial increase in power over the standard Ace”, which produces 173bhp, hits 62mph from rest in just 3.1 seconds and can reach a ridiculous 165mph top speed.
“The R has a lot of carbon, a lot of machined aluminium and a lot of power,” commented Tom Siebert, head of the Ariel Ace team.
The brand was originally known as Ariel Motorcycles when it was in business first time round between 1902 and 1970.
Exactly how Ariel can build on a bike as quick as the Ace will be revealed when the Ace R makes its world premiere at Motorcycle Live 2016 at the Birmingham NEC between November 19-27th.
That show may be your best chance of seeing the bike in the flesh because production will be extremely limited; only ten will be built. You can dream…
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