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KTM might be a car-making virgin but Europe's second biggest motorbike manufacturer sure knows its way round a 'key brand message'. In fact the X-Bow - as in 'cross-bow' rather than X-marks-the-spot - comes with two: 'Ready To Race', and 'Purely Mechanical'. If only it were that simple...

But let's start by parachuting you straight into the cockpit of one of 2008's most keenly anticipated new cars. A four-point harness clamps your body tight into a specially designed Recaro seat. Except it isn't really a seat, it's more a slice of orthopaedic padding glued to a carbon fibre shell that's fixed to the monocoque.

The monocoque itself is made of a carbon composite, similar in design and execution to virtually all top-flight single-seater racing cars the world over. There are no doors, no windows and only a slender, polycarbonate excuse for a windscreen. Not so much mental as elemental, but practically an objet d'art compared to the X-Bow's cruder rivals.

There's a detachable, adjustable multi-function steering wheel, and an L-shaped lever in the foot-well allows the entire pedal box to slide backwards and forwards.

There are no conventional instruments or stalks: a rectangular pod sort of hovers in the middle of the cabin where you'd normally find a centre console and houses an LCD display which can flick between speed, engine revs, water and oil temperature, as well as a lap timer. More significantly, there's no ABS, no ESP, no EBD, no electronic interference of any kind. (A mechanical limited slipdiff is optional.)

Ready to race? Hell, I'm expecting a shock to the system similar to the one Uma Thurman's character in Pulp Fiction received when Travolta's hit man plunged a syringe of adrenalin into her failing heart.

Yet at first the X-Bow delivers a jolt no bigger than you'd get from an industrial strength Starbucks espresso. Despite the Judge Dredd-goes-racing appearance, the first really big surprise is just how easy it is to get off the line. If anything, the take-up on its clutch and the smoothness of its gearchange is actually superior to most of the VW group cars that share the same hardware. Where's the drama? What gives?