It’s not much, yet it’s surprisingly revealing, suggesting that the ride quality will be very good and demonstrating that engine vibrations are extremely well isolated from the tub and that the engine is without temperament. We’re not heading straight out onto the track, however KTM has devised a short loop on the access roads around the back of the pits to give us at the very least a hint of its on-road demeanour. Pull on a helmet, buckle up the four-point harness and thumb the starter button in the centre console. Tug a lever on the floor and the complete pedal assembly slides into place. The seats are fixed, the backrests of the rubberised Recaros set into recesses in the tub. Happily there isn’t a sticker advising ‘no step’ on the wide, fragile-looking running boards between the wheels (they will support 200kg), so with the steering wheel removed (quick release is an option) you can swing a leg over, find the floor, get your other leg over and then slide down into cockpit. We have already been advised that the X‑Bow has no power steering, no brake servo, no anti-lock, no traction control and no stability control system, but the first challenge is getting in, because it also has no doors. We won’t be able to deliver a definitive verdict, though, because there will be no road driving, but although we’ll be sampling the X-Bow exclusively on track, it’s in road trim – with the mandatory 11cm ground clearance and fresh, regular, deep-treaded Michelin Pilot Sport 2s. We’re in the right place to be able to experience all aspects of the X-Bow’s performance KTM has hired the fabulous Circuit Ascari near Ronda in southern Spain, which is a stern challenge for any car. For reference, Caterham makes around 500 cars per year. This diversification of its business is, it says, a response to dwindling numbers of motorcycle licence holders in Europe, and it’s a project of ambitious scale: KTM plans to build 500 cars this year but hopes to grow production to 1500 to 2000 per annum. Yet this is an Austrian car built in Graz by a company that until now has been known principally for its off-road motorbikes. Adding to the cachet and Italian feel are brakes by Brembo, seats, such as they are, by Recaro, and ride and handling refined by Dallara and Loris Bicocchi, the chassis ace whose credits include the Bugatti Veyron, Pagani Zonda and Koenigsegg. It’s a beautifully finished tub too, the ordered weave on show beneath a clear matt lacquer, while its curves and angles have been designed and developed by renowned race chassis experts Dallara. The X-Bow (say ‘crossbow’) is quite unlike any other small sports car because it is built around a carbonfibre tub. It’s also more striking and exquisitely detailed than I’d hoped. This is the first time I’ve seen one outside the pages of a magazine and it’s not as big as I’d feared. We spill out of the cool of the minibus into the bright, warm Spanish morning and make a beeline for the row of six KTM X-Bows.
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