Mississauga lawyer S. J. (Chip) Petrillo and his wife, Mona, turned up at the Shannonville track in the only street-legal Ariel Atom currently on the road in Canada.
An episode of BBC Television's Top Gear featuring the Atom, driven by a jowl-flapping and wildly enthusiastic Jeremy Clarkson (well worth watching), introduced Petrillo to the car, of which he recently took delivery.
"At first I thought it was kind of crazy and then I fell in love with it," he says. "Anybody who says Clarkson is overselling it is crazy. It's as much fun as you can have on four wheels."
Petrillo says he's amazed by the attention the car attracts, and how many people recognize it. He says he had always wanted something special, maybe a Ferrari, and finally got to a point in life where he and Mona decided to just go for it, with the Atom the result.
Initially he planned to buy it just for the track, but decided it would be more fun if it were licensed for the road.
To meet licensing criteria here, Petrillo had to build his Atom from parts and get both a normal safety check and a structural safety check. It's also fitted with a full lighting kit.
