Ariel Atom police car (2014) revealed: Plod's anything but

By Tim Pollard First Official Pictures 03 June 2014 16:35 Somerset sports car specialist Ariel has come up with a shock for any would-be crooks or speeders: the Ariel Atom police car. Avon and Somerset Constabulary has taken delivery of an Atom 3.5R fitted with the Honda supercharged engine good for 350bhp. Even with the addition of police livery and blues-and-twos lights and sirens, Ariel director Simon Saunders is confident it'll hit 0-60mph in just 2.5 seconds.

Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo launches

Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo When the press release came in for the Skoda Fabia Monte Carlo, we were a bit surprised to learn that Skoda has been playing in Motorsport for 110 years. We knew they had a noble history before communism relegated them to skip-on-wheels status, but we’re ashamed to confess we knew nothing of their early Motorsport history. We knew of the profile Skoda had in the ’70s with success in rallying, which juxtaposed jarringly with the general perception of their cars.

Ford once planned to race fiberglass-bodied Mustang touring cars

Tucked away on page nine of the May 9, 1964 issue of Competition Press and Autoweek is an intriguing little story: “FIA Rejects Ford Bid for Homolgation [sic].” At the time, the Mustang had just made its world debut, but Ford was already scheming to fold the car into its “Total Performance” campaign. The automaker apparently proposed to do so with a fleet of crazy fiberglass-bodied touring cars. According to Competition Press, Ford tried to get the new Mustang classified as a touring car for international racing.