Up and Atom: Ariel’s innovators behind Britain’s best driver’s car Car News

Matt Childs – Parts Manager, nine years at Ariel

“I have a definite model,” Matt Childs, the parts manager, tells me. “We go around four times a day to make sure the technicians have what they want for the builds. In the morning, all the free time is spent making sure the orders come out. The courier arrives around 1:30 p.m. And in the afternoon, it’s all about putting away the day’s deliveries and making sure we make the most of the space we have.

The stock conveniently lives right above the build bays, but clearly space is tight. And, of course, all is not for new construction. “We get service kits sent to garages, but a lot of parts are delivered directly to customers,” says Childs. “A lot of them like to do stuff themselves; many are mechanical minded, so much of the relationship we have is directly with them.

Childs believes fewer upgrades will go to owners of the later car over time. “With the 4, we did a lot of upgrade stuff early on,” he says. “For older cars we tend to sell Öhlins shocks and stuff like that, which weren’t available in 2010, but with the 4, because Öhlins and sequential gearbox were available from new ones, there will probably be less upgrades to do outside of it. Most of the time we do stuff for the Atom 2 and 3. There are some elements of 3 that you can piggyback on the 2. “

Tom Ward, Chief Engineer, five years at Ariel

“On a typical day? I’ll go through many, many emails from many, many vendors,” Ward laughs. “And try to make sure the parts arrive on time for the prototypes. Check on the other engineers, then do some design myself. It’s often back and forth with Ralph [Tayler-Webb, chief designer], which tells me to make things smaller, to fit between the body and to look pretty.

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