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" RONDA, Spain \u2014 A race car for the road? It&amp;#039;s something we all dream about, but here&amp;#039;s the reality: You&amp;#039;ll get flies in your teeth, raindrops that scar for life and a ride like a trolley jack. Okay, KTM&amp;#039;s X-Bow (pronounced &amp;quot;crossbow&amp;quot;) drives better than a floor jack from Sears, but without a hood or windscreen, this carbon-fiber two-seater\u2014really more go-kart than Indy car in the growing garage of land rockets\u2014is more suited to track days than to a daily commute. Recently we had the chance to test the X-Bow at the Ascari Ring, here with a KTM racer and me splitting time into several four-lap sprints. Needless to say, it was one helluva summertime sprint.  The Specs  KTM is Europe&amp;#039;s second-largest motorcycle maker. But unlike the United States, where high gas prices have become a boon to the motorcycle and bicycle industries, Europe has been cycling down, so to speak, as riders eschew the thrills\u2014and obvious dangers\u2014of swapping out four wheels for two. And while KTM is following the high-powered herd back to four-wheelers, the company insisted that designer Gerald Kiska make the X-Bow look more like a motorcycle than a car. From the front, he&amp;#039;s achieved that goal: The X-Bow&amp;#039;s carbon-fiber monocoque tub is ostentatiously displayed, as you can see the suspension\u2014and even the bell cranks for the push-rod springs and dampers that poke up through the wings. At the back, where the 1.8-liter, four-cylinder turbo Audi engine and six-speed manual transmission live on a twin-beam aluminium subframe, the appearance is more cluttered and messy\u2014think your new lawn mower, not a hot motor bike.   Wait a second: Audi engine? Yes, KTM must have approached the company in a weak moment\u2014or at least with a hard sell\u2014because few others get their hands on Audi&amp;#039;s prized engines. This ubiquitous unit fitted to the X-Bow\u2014as well as to Audi&amp;#039;s TT and A3 hatchback\u2014produces 237 hp and 229 lb.-ft. of torque. That&amp;#039;s enough to accelerate the 1741-pound X-Bow from 0 to 62 mph in 3.9 seconds. With the aerodynamics of a brick outhouse and lots of downforce, the vehicle&amp;#039;s top speed is limited to 137 mph. But light weight pays off in the economy stakes, as KTM claims the X-Bow will deliver around 31.4 mpg (U.S.) in the European combined cycle. Not that you&amp;#039;d notice the fuel economy much when you&amp;#039;re behind the wheel of a car like this.   The X-Bow&amp;#039;s extensive use of carbon fiber is, at least in part, the result of a happy accident. Japanese company Toho-Tenax was looking to expand its carbon-fiber business into a segment known as &amp;quot;industrial fibers.&amp;quot; The X-Bow&amp;#039;s tub is not actually made of carbon fiber\u2014at least not in the aeronautical, race-car-so-expensive-it-hurts sense. Industrial fibers are made of carbon and produced in much the same way. These have similar properties to the expensive kind, only at a significant cost savings\u2014probably why the X-Bow contains more than 220 pounds of the stuff.  The Drive  If you were expecting the soft, squishy velour seats of a 1976 Cadillac Coupe De Ville, you&amp;#039;d better keep shopping. With bare carbon-fiber to cradle your body, the restraint on track time tends to be your bruised spine rather than the car itself. But the steering wheel and the pedal box adjust for driver height quite nicely, so there&amp;#039;s certainly no excuse for squirming around. The instrument pod is from the KTM motorcycle parts bin, which, unfortunately, makes it infuriatingly fiddly and impossible to read in the sun. There&amp;#039;s an Audi ignition key that slots in the dash and a push-button start.   Press that button and the X-Bow is initially \u2026 boring. The flat, uninspired exhaust note and carlike feel of the major controls seem out of place in this rather extreme-looking vehicle. It feels like an Audi TT, sounds like a TT and, up to a point, drives like one, too. Surely a track-day special like this should be more fun?   Ah, but then you stand on the throttle and that light weight comes into play abruptly\u2014very abruptly. The X-Bow just monsters up the track, almost irrespective of which gear it&amp;#039;s in. If X-Bow lacks the edgy, slightly scary feel of its rivals (Ariel Atom 2, Caterham 7 and Lotus 2-Eleven), it more than makes up for this with easy-to-use performance and astonishing cornering potential. Again, thanks to its lightweight build, the X-Bow will pull 1.2 g&amp;#039;s in a corner\u2014even wearing pedestrian road tires instead of racing shoes. And just in case you&amp;#039;ve never driven a track in a car this capable, that level of force feels exactly like your cranium getting sucked sideways off its spinal cord. Yes, it&amp;#039;s quite a lot of fun. What&amp;#039;s more, the KTM is easy to modulate at these limits. If you ease on the throttle a bit too much and the back slides, you can catch it. The X-Bow doesn&amp;#039;t immediately pitch you tail-first into the Armco, which, let&amp;#039;s admit, a lot of rear-engine track cars quite like to do. The gear change is a bit rubbery for a track car, but we never missed a slot. The brakes are unassisted and don&amp;#039;t come with an antilock system, so you need to give them a firm push\u2014but not so firm that the wheels lock.   The X-Bow is a very flattering car to drive on the track. It just makes you look good. But if you were to go racing in one, you would need to harden up the suspension. Of course that wouldn&amp;#039;t just make it corner harder\u2014it would also make the X-Bow a lot snappier and harder to drive. My co-pilot admitted that her car even has sideboards around her helmet to prevent her neck muscles from giving up in a race. If that doesn&amp;#039;t speak to the cornering ability of the X-Bow, nothing will.  Bottom Line  At $85,462, the X-Bow is something of a bargain when you consider that the last all-carbon-fiber car we drove was the sickeningly expensive Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR Roadster. But, honestly, 85 grand is still quite a lot of money for a toy. We&amp;#039;re sad to say, Americans won&amp;#039;t face that difficult choice (new kitchen, or X-Bow?) as KTM cannot bring its car to the States\u2014no airbags, ABS or stability control, as required by U.S. regulations. And it probably wouldn&amp;#039;t pass crash tests either. But take it from me, you Yanks will be missing out on a good one here. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/a3370/4272380/>