The 600hp KTM X-Bow GTX That Has Porsche In Its Sights

What you’re looking at here is the latest evolution of the KTM X-Bow, the company’s first stab at four-wheeled performance that first arrived in 2008. In the lightweight world of Caterhams and Ariel Atoms, it proved a shockwave akin to Christopher Nolan figuring he’d have a go at Batman…

Now, KTM’s new X-Bow GTX, developed with the help of long-time partner Reiter Engineering, is set to compete in ‘GT2’ class competition as early as this autumn, pulling the likes of the Audi R8 LMS GT2 and the Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport firmly into KTM’s competitive crosshairs.

Unsurprisingly, the arrival of the new GTX, which leapfrogs the track-only GT4 as the brand’s range topper, means Austria’s only car manufacturer has its eyes set on “reaches new heights with a new benchmark for lightweight racing cars.”

How, you may ask? An Audi Sport-sourced 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder developing a stonking 600hp is a good start, given that the X-BOW GTX only weighs 1,000kg, courtesy of a lightweight monocoque and the lashings of carbon fibre bodywork, plus canopy, bolted on top. That’s a power-to-weight ratio of 600hp/ton, though homologation might restrict this herculean figure a little in due course.

Revived in 2018 by the SRO – the governing body behind Blancpain and the GT World Challenge and its myriad – ‘GT2’, despite the name, will slot neatly between ‘GT4’ and the top tier ‘GT3’ racing categories, thus giving reasonably experienced ‘gentlemen’ drivers the opportunity to race GT3-esque levels of power albeit without the equivalent aerodynamics and downforce.

Should said gentleman at any point run out of talent and find himself in the gravel trap or stacked in the barriers, KTM has also outfitted the new GTX with “a[n] homologated monocoque with a[n] homologated GT cage, and, on request, also with a[n] homologated advanced seat.” Few details have been provided so far but you might like to know that KTM is the first manufacturer to do this.

Prices remain under wraps but KTM has confirmed that the first 20 examples will be rolled out later this year.

*Images courtesy of KTM