Ariel has revealed the Nomad R, which will be the most powerful version of its rugged sports car to date and limited to just five examples.

It will be powered by a supercharged 2.0-litre Honda Civic Type R engine making 335bhp and 330Nm of torque, putting it 100bhp and 90Nm up on the standard car. It has a six-speed manual transmission and is capable of going from 0-60mph (0-97km/h) in under three seconds and on to a top speed of 136mph (219km/h).

The British sports car maker calls this the ‘ultimate version’ of the Nomad, and as such it gets equipment upgrades on top of the increased performance. The suspension gets Bilstein MDS dampers that have been tuned to ‘Tarmac Rally’ specifications to give the car more prowess on the road, despite retaining its off -road capabilities.

Other equipment includes lightweight 18-inch alloy wheels fitted with Yokohama A052 tyres, four-piston Alcon brake calipers and two-piece ventilated discs. Inside, there are new lightweight seats with full harness seat belts.

It’s incredibly quick but also very driveable and above all fun.- Henry Siebart-Saunders, Ariel

Henry Siebert-Saunders, manager of Nomad development, said: We’ve used knowledge gained from over five years of the Nomad, 15 years of supercharging Honda engines and the Atom 3.5R drivetrain to make this a truly staggering car. It’s incredibly quick but also very driveable and above all fun.”