Drive Wire: The Ariel Nomad Is Simply Badass

In news of the weird, which is so often the best kind, we have the latest from the no-frills all-thrills team at Ariel. They’ve taken the ultra-spare approach they use on their Atom track car and applied it to an off-road model, the Ariel Nomad. The Nomad is basically a hand-built Sand Rail Baja racer, meaning it’s one of the best things in the world, and its 1,500 pounds are motivated by a 230 horsepower Honda four. That means you can hit 60 miles per hour down a back road in 3.4 seconds. The base model starts at $80,000; the “tactical” is $92,000, which gets you top-shelf Ohlins suspension and – seriously- a front fender with a winch mount, which you’ll inevitably need.