Stark sports cars don’t come any starker than the Ariel Atom, a track-day favourite that doesn’t make the slightest concession to protection from the weather. The payoff is that it has responses like a race car but can still be used on the road. And now it has a new engine that gives it performance to match the quickest supercars.

For the Atom 2, the MG Rover engine of the original car has been replaced by the high-revving 2 litre Honda i-VTEC motor from the Civic Type R. As used by Ariel, this engine produces more than 220bhp. The Atom 2, which is in effect a multi-tubular spaceframe chassis with no bodywork except for a nose cone, engine cover and mudguards, weighs less than 1,200lb. That means that this £24,000 mid-engined two-seater has a better power-to-weight ratio than the £420,000 Ferrari Enzo. It won’t do 200mph but the Atom 2 should accelerate from 0 to 60mph in rather less than 4sec.

The Atom’s skeletal chassis forms a shoulder-high protective cage but there are no side panels, no doors and no windscreen, so you have to dress up like a motorcyclist to drive it. About 100 people have bought an Atom since Simon Saunders started making them four years ago.

The Atom 2 is available as a track car, without lights and other legal requirements, at £22,000 but experience suggests that almost all buyers will want their cars for road use. There are also plans for a less expensive version using a 160bhp engine.