F1 performance in a road car? The top 5 contenders

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I am sure most of you have heard of the Ariel Atom, a strange vehicle looking like it is made from bent water pipes, and no creature comforts at all.  Bad weather?  Leave your Atom in the garage.

However, the Ariel people have now gone one better with a V8 engined version which can go from rest to 100 km/h in 2.3 seconds.  Yes, you read that correctly, two point three seconds!  They should have called the V8 Ariel the Atom Bomb!

Ariel Atom V8.Ariel Atom V8.

The engine is bespoke, made by fusing two Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engines.  This develops 372 kW at 10,600 rpm.  The Atom is the quickest accelerating road car without a doubt.

Next fastest is the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.  The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport currently holds the Guinness World record for the fastest production car, with a top speed of 431.072 km/h.  And as well as top speed, it is only narrowly edged by the Atom, recording 2.5 seconds for the 100 kph sprint.

Third fastest is the Hennessey Venom GT.  This is based on a Lotus Exige chassis with a 6.2 liter GM sourced V8 engine, with twin turbochargers to give it a peak power output of 895 kW and 1565 Nm of torque.  Again fearsomely quick with the 0-100 km/h time of 2.7 seconds.  The Hennessey Venom GT can also run to 370 km/h in less than 20 seconds.

Next up is the Japanese firebomb, the Nissan GT-R.  The stock-standard 2013 model 3.8 liter twin-turbo V6 Nissan GT-R has a claimed 0-100 km/h sprint time of just 2.7 seconds, but this may be a trifle optimistic.

Finally the fifth place in the acceleration stakes, goes to the Lamborghini Aventador.  This space ship on wheels has a 6.5 liter V12 and 4WD and a claimed 0-100 km/h sprint time of 2.9s.