Pull away slowly from a dead stop, and there's the tiniest whiff of turbo lag. It's easy to call up triple digits on the X-Bow's digital instrument cluster. Add the wing for 882 pounds of aerodynamic assistance. Without the wing, there is 425 pounds of downforce at 124 mph. A six-speed manual transmission is standard, the special edition comes with a six-speed sequential manual, and a $8000 optional dual-clutch automatic is in the works.Ī prominent wing over the back is optional, but the large rear diffuser and front splitter are standard. Additional structural elements keep the engine mounted and increase torsional rigidity. Similar to what you'd find in an Audi TTS, in the X-Bow the engine produces 295 horsepower in its standard tune and up to 346 horses in the 1st Batch Edition model. Unlike the original we drove a decade ago, in this latest version KTM offers a newer generation of the EA888 powerplant. Around the back, there is a multilink setup as well as a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four engine from Audi. There are pushrod-actuated springs and dampers worked by the front control-arm suspension. This is real race-car stuff the tub is based on Formula 3 designs, it's just wider. If it looks like a two-seat formula car, that's because that's basically what it is. Still, it's very easy to get comfortable, but it's the sort of comfort you get from a six-point racing harness, not from claw-foot bathtubs.įour sheets of carbon fiber make up the KTM's chassis tub, and it only weighs 176 pounds. The foam backrest has "Recaro" embossed in it, which must mean the seating giant had some say in the setup. The removable steering wheel tilts and telescopes, too. Simply pull the lever next to your right thigh, and the pedals slide. As in the latest Ford GT, the "seat" is fixed, but the entire pedal box moves to accommodate you. In the X-Bow, where you sit is molded into the carbon-fiber tub. Unlike those two cars, the open-cockpit X-Bow has neither a top nor a windshield, no doors, and, come to think of it, not even seats. And before you think we're softly sprung debutantes out for an evening stroll, let me inform you that this assurance is coming from someone who owned a Caterham Super 7 and a Lotus Elise. This is just as well, because after a day of playing with the X-Bow Comp R at Sonoma Raceway in northern California, we can assure you that the X-Bow is more race car than street car. That changed last April when the EPA allowed KTM to sell the X-Bow to Americans-you just still can't register it, put a license plate on it, or drive it to Burger King. Since then, KTM has sold 1200 of the carbon-fiber track cars, but up until last year you couldn't have had one on U.S. Back in 2009, we lapped the Austrian company's X-Bow at our annual Lightning Lap test at Virginia International Raceway, where it turned in a solid 2:52.3 lap time, thanks in part to its 237 horsepower having to motivate only 1812 pounds. It has been a decade since we last checked in on the racy KTM X-Bow (pronounced "crossbow").
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