Up and Atom: The Ariel innovators behind Britain's Best Driver's Car

But what cars they’ve turned into. And what a bike – the two-wheeled Ace is perhaps even more pleasingly finished than the Atom 4 and Nomad. “I think it helps that a lot of us are bikers,” says Siebert. “Because everything is on show, even if it’s not pretty it has to be nice from an engineering perspective.”

Up next will be a new Nomad, currently in development but not as yet a real prototype, followed by the range-extended battery-electric Hipercar. “It’s when you get a physical car that I get excited,” says Siebert. “I like driving them and messing with them. Ultimately it’s such a team effort here. We’re punching above our weight, so it has to be. We take on board ideas from everyone, but Simon, Henry and I will steer it the way we want to go. I’ve got knowledge of the models because I’ve been there from the start.”

That wasn’t planned. Simon Saunders had taken the Lightweight Sports Car Concept he’d shown at the 1996 British Motor Show and turned it into the Atom, and he was running the company with a friend who fell ill. “I’d had and raced bikes as a kid and wasn’t interested in cars,” says Siebert. “I went and worked in a motorbike shop and lived away.” Only a few Atom 1s had been built when “mother begged me to come and help the old man because he was struggling”. He was only supposed to help for three months, “but I’ve never left”.

That was in August 2000, and for somebody who wasn’t into cars at the time, it’s clear they are now in his veins. “I reckon we must have made five or six Atom 1s when I started,” he says, “though they were pretty rudimentary. The last ones were good and loads of them went to Japan, bizarrely. It’s one car we don’t have that I’d like for the museum.”

James Cousins - workshop supervisor, thirteen years at Ariel

Cousins is in charge of all the car builds and starts his day by ensuring everybody has something to do and knowing the specs of the cars being built. “And I’m building a car at the same time,” he says. “It takes me a bit longer because I’ve got other responsibilities.”

The assembly line is arranged in bays, with one technician to one build. “It’ll take about three or four weeks depending on the spec,” says Cousins. “This one’s got a sequential gearbox so it takes a bit longer.” Atom 4s are the best-finished Atoms yet, and that all starts before the build. “The 4 goes together a lot better than the old ones because more thought has gone into the process – like the bodywork, which comes with pre-drilled holes,” he says. “A lot of the guys like building Atom 4s because they go together quicker, but it’s nice to get the variety, like a Nomad, because they’re so different. At the moment, we’ve got two guys just doing Nomad Rs [the sequential-gearbox almost-asphalt rally-spec special edition that was launched last year].”

Matt Childs - parts manager, nine years at Ariel

“I have a set pattern,” Matt Childs, the parts manager, tells me. “We go around four times a day making sure the technicians have what they want for the builds. In the morning, any spare time is spent making sure orders go out. The courier comes about 1.30pm. And in the afternoon, it’s a case of packing away the day’s deliveries and making sure we make the most of the space we’ve got.”

The stock lives conveniently just above the build bays, but it’s clear that space is tight. And, obviously, not all of it is for new builds. “We do get service kits sent to garages, but a lot of parts go directly to customers,” Childs says. “A lot of them like to do stuff themselves; a lot are mechanically minded, so a lot of the dealings we have are directly with them.”

Childs thinks fewer upgrades will go to owners of the latest car as time goes on. “With the 4, we did a lot of the upgrade stuff early,” he says. “For the older cars, we tend to sell Öhlins dampers and stuff like that, which weren’t available in 2010, but with the 4, because the Öhlins and sequential ’box were available from new, there will probably be less upgrades to go out. Mostly we do stuff for Atom 2s and 3s. There are some elements of the 3 you can graft onto the 2.”

Tom Ward, chief engineer, five years at Ariel

“A typical day? I’ll go through many, many emails from many, many suppliers,” laughs Ward. “And try to ensure parts are coming in on time for prototypes. Check on the other engineers, then do a bit of design myself. Often that’s back and forth with Ralph [Tayler-Webb, chief designer], who’s telling me to make things smaller, fit between bodywork and look nice.”

Alongside Ward and TaylerWebb, Ariel has three other design engineers. “One is full time on Nomad 2 for over a year, another is on the Hipercar and the other is now 75% on Nomad,” says Ward.