Hi! Soooo close to buying an Atom!

[ncarlsonmd]

Hi Everybody,
My name's Nate, currently living in Germany but heading back home to the US in a few years. No Atom in my garage...yet.
I've been looking into getting a track car for a while now. All the usual contenders- M3, 911, lotus, etc- but the Atom seems to blow them all away with affordability (both initial purchase and maintenance) and obviously performance. I do have reservations though. I have a hard time buying a $60+k car that I can't also drive on the road (not enough time in my life for lots of track time). I've managed to weasel my way into being able to get it registered in Germany but I'm a bit afraid of what will happen when I come home! What's worse is that I really don't know what state I'll be living in! I also wonder how accepted the Atom is on the track. Trolling through a few posts here and info elsewhere there seems to be some anti-Atom sentiment in the track day community...true? Example: Atom not allowed at PCA events anymore?
I'm also definitely a track rookie...is the Atom too hardcore? The turbo almost certainly. I've got a dozen or so laps of the Nurburgring under my belt, a track day at Spa and an M driving school...that's it. Not looking to follow the Atom purchase with a body sized wooden box purchase.
Anyway, I'm sure no one really looks at these intro posts but if someone would like to weigh in with some thoughts, that would be great!
Nate

[Slavo190470]

Hi Nate!

There is no other vehicle in my mind that gives you the same fun/dollar ratio than the Atom...It handles like a single seater just with less aero grip and more mechanical grip. It's tail happy, but you can easily balance it out of the corners with throttle. With fully adjustable suspension you can set it up to your liking and it will give much more expensive cars a run for their money...I have a Porsche GT3 and have driven most of the contemporary Ferraris but this is a different league on the track...You can have lots of fun with the Porsche Cup cars on the track...Anyways, I am putting my Atom for sale as I started a new company and I don't have the time to go to the track much. Let me know if you are interested and I can send you the details.

Slavo

[AZAtom]

Welcome to the Atom community Nate!

When it comes to track-day toys, the Atom wins hands down. As you already pointed out, the very low cost of consumables and maintenance (Honda driveline) are very compelling reasons to buy an Atom 3, but the sheer speed and joy of driving the car is really what takes it over the top versus the other contenders. (I have owned two M3s myself).

In terms of road registration, there are several options to consider. Please feel free to give me a call if you would like to discuss further.

I also have an inbound Atom (arriving in November) that is still available if you don't feel like waiting.

Thanks!