Ariel Atom Cup joins the Race of Champions 2013 line-up

This year’s annual Race of Champions will be held at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium on December 14th-15th and will feature a host of stars including seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher, nine-time Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen, four-time V8 Supercar champion Jamie Whincup and 2013 World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier.

But the line-up of cars are also worth tuning in for, with 4 Ariel Atom Cup cars joining the Audi R8 LMS, VW Scirocco Cup, Toyota GT86, Euro NASCAR plus traditional Race Of Champions favourites like the KTM X-Bow and the ROC buggy.

Two of the Ariel Atom Cup cars waiting to be packed in their shipping containers before boarding the ‘Mol Quartz’ container ship.

The cars will set sail from Europe later this week to begin the long sea voyage to Thailand.

The Atoms departed from Leamington Spa last week before being driven to Birmingham and heading by rail to the port in Southampton. There they were joined by four KTM X-Bows, the legendary Audi S1 rally car and three stunt cars used by Terry Grant.

“We’re delighted to have the Ariel Atom Cup in our line-up of cars for the 2013 Race Of Champions,” said Race organiser Fredrik Johnsson.

“We have a fantastic range of machinery heading to Bangkok, from the Audi R8 LMS to the VW Scirocco Cup. But we are always on the lookout for new cars – and the Ariel Atom is as exciting as it gets.”

“It is a road-legal car that looks and drives exactly like a fully-fledged racing car. The structure means you can see much more of the driver’s arms and legs as they race. Even better, it’s a two-seater so there will be some very lucky passengers getting thrown around our parallel track by their racing heroes in December.”