But When You Turn Or Stop?

鈥淪he said, 鈥楬ey babe, take a walk on the wild side. What does Ol鈥?Lou singing tales of gender-bending 鈥?0s Manhattan have to do with me telling you about a genre-bending racetrack performance car? To get straight to the point: Compared to the KTM X-Bow (say 鈥渃rossbow鈥?, your prized supercar languishing in the garage is morbidly obese. That鈥檚 right. Porsche GT Whatever, Ferrari Speciale Blah Blah, McLaren Anything, you name it. Fatsos. Porkers. The KTM is the 1,400-pound not-elephant in the room. No offense鈥擪TM most definitely has entered automobilia鈥檚 wild side. Sure, your porcine supercar has 500, 600, even 700 horsepower. And that鈥檚 just thrilling when you鈥檙e rocketing straight ahead; the power can overcome that extra load, for the most part. But when you turn or stop? There鈥檚 just no denying Sir Isaac鈥檚 Second Law of Motion. The greater the mass, the greater the force needed to move it. Or as the glass-half-full kind of guy that I am: The less the mass, the less the force required to move it. In the high-performance automotive world, adding lightness just makes everything better, especially when it comes to changing directions.

Corners. Twisties. My reasons for living. And if you鈥檙e reading this, you鈥檙e attracted to such things, too. You want to turn that wheel and feel those g-forces tug at you. Your favorite supercars weigh well over 3,000 pounds. Now consider the relative freedom from the surly bonds of earth every time you charge into your favorite bend. But let鈥檚 go one step further: Let鈥檚 remove the cockpit. No windshield, no top. The wind/speed factor. Like my beloved motorcycles, the sensuality cranks up another notch but without the looming risk of road rash pain and injury. Just keeps getting better, you gotta agree. You鈥檙e walking on the wild side now, kiddo. The X-Bow is constructed on a complete carbon monocoque tub that wraps clear up to shoulder height鈥攊ncredibly strong and quite superior to steel tube frames. Fortunately, it also has deformable structures to dissipate crash energy, built to FIA GT racing standards. You sit in that tub and move the steering and pedals for fit. It鈥檚 twice as good at resisting twist as your lovely convertible is.

I can feel that rigidity on track. Only the suspension moves; it鈥檚 a revelation. And you can see that suspension working because it鈥檚 the pushrod type, partially exposed, with shocks mounted over the driver鈥檚 knees. This design reduces weight and aero drag in the suspension and allows sophisticated control of the spring rates through the angles of the rockers. Very race car. Not surprising because KTM worked with competition chassis manufacturer Dallara in creating its first four-wheeler. Although there is a version that鈥檚 street-legal in Europe, the official launch here in the U.S. X-Bow Comp R, intended only for the racetrack. Thus, the American version includes a fire extinguisher system, a front/rear brake balance adjuster, full safety harness and headrest, and more track-specific touches. 104,500, which isn鈥檛 terrible for a full-on track weapon. The triple-adjustable WP-brand shocks are also racy. Best to stick to factory settings or get a real race engineer.

The potential is tremendous. A good shock tuner can get it just where you like it. And I liked it. I sampled the X-Bow at Sonoma Raceway, an ideal circuit for this featherweight. This place almost never goes straight and hardly ever flat, either. The ups and downs and lefts and rights are relentless and greatly magnify what鈥檚 best about the car: its agility. The KTM is low and open. My sightline is only a bit higher than the green grasses of the Bay Area鈥檚 wet winter season. Wind rushes and whistles over my helmet, my face shield the only windscreen. With the center of gravity at about my belly button, I feel very much a part of the monocoque, not like I鈥檓 riding atop it. The minimal roll happens around me, not beneath me. The steering is unassisted, like most everything on this KTM and like the Norma prototype鈥檚 steering. Response is instantaneous, but the ratio is not terribly quick. A good thing, in fact, because it might be too much.