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R I D E R We know the KTM X-Bow is a road-going racer, but is it useable enough to cut it on everyday roads? We take to Deira's streets to find out

K TM X - B OW NIGHT

Words Dimitri PesinPictures Alejandro Rodriguez

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K TM X - B OW

bi Agu tilts his head forward over the KTM, thinks for a bit, lifts his eyebrows, nods and says: ‘Yes, this is a car very fast. But it is ugly.’

In one fell swoop, a Nigerian man

who has never seen or heard of the X-Bow

until this day has delivered what is possibly the most succinct evaluation of the X-Bow to date.

It’s late, after 10pm, and if we aren’t in the middle of the centre of Dubai’s Deira district right now, then we must be close. The shop and street lights are bright; the sound of people and traffic noise is loud and constant. The bustle of people is slowly intensifying around the otherworldly bright orange and carbon KTM parked by the pavement.

I’m at the second stage of my day with the new KTM, nearing the end of a short but significant trip from the new and glitzy Dubai Marina developments in the south of the city to the old part of town – and the historical

beginnings of the city – in Deira.OK, so we’re starting at the end, but this is a

story that was always going to start at the end. The end is what it’s all about. It’s also where some crucial opinions will be formed. The first being what this Austrian-built, track-focused machine is really like to own and live with on Middle East soil, and the second is how far it can really be exploited in every day situations. The end is, after all, where the senses and impressions all come together – especially today, where our choice of locations makes them stronger than ever.

Old Deira is the local home of the suqs: it’s chaotic and atmospheric in equal measure, particularly at this time of day. It’s late, yet everything around you is alive. The body is telling you it’s soon time to reunite with your bed, but the nerve endings begin to stand on end from the busyness around you.

Obi, a friendly, easy-going 33-year old from Lagos has lived and worked in Deira for five years. Obviously interested in the four-wheeled machine in front of him, he asks me for the price. I tell him it’s more than $100k. His eyebrows lift a little once again and he lets out a very long ‘Ohhh…’ There’s a pause. I get the feeling he’s not sure whether he’d

say goodbye to that amount of hard-earned money for something that has only two seats and needs a helmet to drive.

Ah yes, the helmet. If the X-Bow wasn’t already conspicuous, then the round bulge in the shape of a head coming out of the driver’s seat definitely makes it so. The amount of people crowding around the car as it sits there can only be described as a human beehive. Frankly, it’s embarrassing. You sit there with a helmet and a race-spec harness, and getting in and out takes a while as you fiddle with straps, a removeable steering wheel and adjustable pedals that slide forwards and backwards. Not only are they perfectly set, but they allow absolutely anyone to set an ideal driving position. Still, while Obi isn’t far off in his assessment, it’s still worth looking at the details of this car in the flesh. Each carbon fibre panel is beautifully shaped and detailed so it looks like a sculpture. True enough, the pieces fit, but somehow, those many intricate details don’t make the X-Bow a thing to admire. Especially not in the dark of Deira. SEVERAL HOURS EARLIER, the KTM is in wholly different surroundings. Though the embarrassment is the same. It’s parked on the

Oh

Top left: getting in and out is a whole procedure in itself. Top right: the docile 2-litre engine makes the X-Bow easy to thread through narrow streets. Right: being open to the elements makes everything feel that bit more hardcore; it still has a softer side though.

‘You can forget any exotica you choose to name, the X-Bow makes people stop dead in their tracks’

cobbled path of The Walk in Dubai Marina, a pretty, relaxed area lined with restaurants that only has a narrow lane for traffic. There’s a fun-fair nearby and plenty of beautiful people for distractions, but I manage to squeeze through the parked cars and tight, narrow little turns with no hassle to get to the parking spot. The controls are easy and there are really only two bits to get used to: you need to get the measure of the throttle pedal and the brakes aren’t servo-assisted, so the pedal needs a good push.

The embarassment comes when I park the X-Bow. You can forget Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and any other exotica you choose to name, the X-Bow makes people stop dead in their tracks. Watching a passer-by walk past and notice the X-Bow is like watching a movie scene, where a woman taking plates over to a dinner table is suddenly surprised by a bleeding dead body lying on the floor of her living room, making her drop the set of plates, smashing them to the floor. Striking. That’s probably the best word to describe it.

But looks can be deceiving. The X-Bow may appear mean and its face may be frowning, but it isn’t harsh. Despite there not being much between you and the 237 horses sitting behind you, vibrations are well isolated and the engine doesn’t have that urgency about it that makes you keep a cautious distance between you and the car in front in case you might prod the loud pedal one millimetre further and lurch forward into an expensive accident.

Spending too much time at the side of the busy Walk brings ever more attention. A crowd gathers. So I fire up the remarkably calm 2-litre VW-Audi TFSI engine and we head off towards the Creek and late night Deira.

On the way, a few things become apparent. You notice how well the chassis has been set up. The X-Bow is compliant on most road surfaces and doesn’t get unsettled. At the same time, it corners almost completely flat, regardless of speed. (I guess that’s what you get when you hire a chassis engineer who’s CV includes the Zonda, Koenigsegg CCX and Bugatti Veyron.)

It also has a lot of grip on high-speed bends,

which, considering it’s on road-oriented Michelin Pilot Sport tyres, feels like it’s due to the aerodynamics of the underbody. In fact, it does develop 200kg of downforce at 200kph and if you can push and steer hard enough it’ll squeeze 1.5g of lateral forces out of you. And the harder you push, the more the steering weights up. If you’re looking for all-out fingertip senses of every single stone chip on the road though, don’t come looking for it here; it doesn’t have as much feedback as you’d expect.

The handling characteristics are such that you get understeer at low speeds and ‘pointiness’ at higher speeds. You really feel like you’re at the centre of the car as the rear pivots around you. Perhaps Loris Bicocchi, the genius supercar engineer who developed the X-Bow, wanted it to be user-friendly. When the back does let go, it’s surprisingly easy to gather up (even if you do sometimes feel like you might run out of lock), which is something you don’t expect when you first slide your bottom down the thin mould that can barely be called a seat.

Personally, I like to feel challenged by something as track-focused as this, I want to know that there’s a bit of the car’s character I haven’t mastered every time I get in it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to feel like I could be thrown off the road at any moment like in an old Porsche 911, but this ease-of-use part is making this special KTM – as ridiculous as it may sound – verge on being too civilised for its own good.

The biggest disappointing factor is perhaps the engine. Bulletproof it may be, but there doesn’t seem to be the urgent shove you’d expect from something as light and as focused as this. Yes, it is fast, but you expect more of a hit in the small of your back. When Editor-in-Chief Bassam drove it a day before I did and later called me to say that ‘it’s not that fast’, I thought all things in life are relative; that coming from a man who races a Radical SR8 and has driven a Caparo T1, 99.9 per cent of cars wouldn’t seem ‘that fast’. He was right though. Standstill to 100kph in 3.9sec is not slouching, but you do get used to it fairly quickly and you can’t help feeling that it could and should be a bit faster still.

K TM X - B OW

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‘You sit low, confined in that tub, trying to judge every bump, curve and

hole in the road.’

This page: heavy traffic is the only things that delays the X-Bow’s progress on the road - it’s mighty quick everywhere

Engine In-line 4-cyl, turbochargedLocation Mid, transverseDisplacement 1984ccBore x stroke 82.5 x 92.8mm Cylinder head Aluminium alloy, dohc, four valves

per cylinder, variable valve timingFuel and ignition Electronic engine management,

multipoint fuel injectionMax power 237bhp @ 5500rpmMax torque 229lb ft @ 2000-5500rpm Transmission Six-speed manual, rear-

wheel drive, limited-slip differentialFront suspension Double wishbones, push rod

operated coil springs/damper unitsRear suspension Double wishbones, coil springs,

dampers, anti-roll barBrakes Ventilated discs, 305mm front,

262mm rearWheels 7.5 x 17in front, 8.5 x 18in rear,

aluminium alloyWeight (kerb) 790kgPower-to-weight 305bhp/ton0-100kph 3.8sec (claimed)Top speed 220kph (claimed)Price $102,100 (as tested)On sale Now

S p e c i f i c a t i o nconfined in that tub, trying to judge every bump, curve and hole in the road, while at the same time constantly turning your head in case you’ve missed something in your blind spot. The mirrors just aren’t enough. The haunches from the seat backwards seem wide and are level with your eyes, so you’re constantly wary that a bicycle or another car is just beside your rear wheel. It’s mostly frustrating, but at times, it’s downright nerve wrecking. The tunnel vision you get through the helmet’s visor doesn’t help either. It’s mostly a Las Vegas-style pounding of lights from every angle and a sixth sense-like awareness of the silhouettes of people that could at any moment step out into the road at the corner of your eye.

With my nose being the first point of contact with the air flowing into the helmet, I can smell every living (and dead) thing I’m passing. The aroma of spices – cardamom, bay leaf, coriander, chilli – is overwhelming. It’s mixed with the biryani, korma and kebab odours when I drive through the streets that are lined with restaurants. On smaller roads, it’s not so enticing: animal droppings and rotting leftover food is just a few centimetres under me. This is what it must be like to be a rat roaming for scraps.

Constantly being aware of gaps in traffic, another thing becomes apparent: there’s some turbo lag. Trying to make a quick gearchange, I also get the feeling the shift could be tighter. AFTER SEVERAL MINUTES’ cruising for a suitable parking spot, I find a gap and

reverse into it. I take off the helmet to the amusement of the crowd that’s gathered – who all probably wonder who the hell I am – and detach the steering wheel. When I get out I realise I’ve stepped into the real world. No fancy decorations, no glass buildings, no expensive cars, no perfect-looking people; just a place where everyone works hard and gets on with their life. Quite a contrast when you consider that the Marina area we visited earlier is only a few kilometres away.

At this point I meet Obi, who just like everyone else, needs to satisfy his curiosity for the X-Bow. I tell him what he wants to know and that despite it feeling like a racing car and having a hard exterior, it does have a softer side.

What you buy into with the X-Bow then, is essentially some kind of certainty. Certainty in the fact that you can drive it in any climate and as hard as you like, and it’ll still be ticking at the end of the day. Certainty that it’ll attract admiration anywhere you go. A certainty that there’s almost nothing else like it on the road. And a certainty of getting an everyday thrill without the repercussions. I guess that makes it perfect for most people.

But in this class of car, ‘most people’ is not the idea. This is a niche market that simply has to deliver in order to satisfy. You really do get a lot with this X-Bow. But, even though it really pains me to say this considering this is one hell of a car, when it boils down to sheer ‘otherworld’ thrills, it fails to deliver. Had Obi had the chance to drive it, I’m sure he’d say the same.

K TM X - B OW

There’s no mistaking that the X-Bow is a brilliant car. But perhaps because of that you expect more of a thrill. It’s on this highly emotional point that the X-Bow falls a little short. KTM says a 300bhp option is coming, and if an extra 63 horses make that difference, I’ll gladly eat my words, because the X-Bow truly has a lot of potential.

Along the stop-and-go traffic of Jumeirah’s Beach Road as I head towards Deira, this isn’t what I’m worried about right now. I use the time to try and figure out what kind of bond I have with this strange-looking concoction of Italian chassis, German engine and Austrian manufacturing. Should I love it for its good points (of which there are many) and forgive it for being a bit sensible? Or should I not compromise and dismiss it? I leave my final decision for later. With my brain in 50:50, we exit the Shindagha Tunnel under Dubai Creek into the ‘other side’ of Dubai, where the traffic begins to build up. And so does the pain in my backside.

The constant depressing of the clutch is taking its toll on the left side of my back. I can smell every little gram of carbon dioxide coming from other cars in front. Pulling the visor down makes things worse because the heat my body has built up makes it steam up. The bottom of my spine is also becoming sensitive to every little bump and it’s beginning to take away my concentration on the road. Not a good thing in a place that in terms of crowdedness is beginning to look like a match for Mumbai.

Meandering through the narrow streets this late in the day in Deira is an assault on the senses, even at crawling speeds. You sit low,

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‘It’s compliant on most road surfaces and at the same time corners almost completely flat’

Middle: the ‘interior’ is simple and well put together; display in the middle works well at night but is harder to read during the day. Bottom: the single wheel nut identifies the car’s racing focus.

This page: inboard suspension is adjustable and can be distracting - but interesting - to see at work