A tribute to the dazzling KTM X-BOW – the world’s first production sports car with a full carbon composite monocoque.
To fully understand and enjoy this car it should be appreciated on many different levels: a racing car for the road, and a road car that can excel on the track; its unique composition and aerodynamic qualities; its design and aesthetics.
The X-BOW was brought to life by the virtually unlimited resources of an industrial giant steeped in motorsport, which demanded that it be technologically cutting-edge. The car was honed to perfection by arguably the finest racing car engineers in the world, for whom ‘best in class’ was a minimum requirement. It is an objét d’art that can race in anger, or can transport in style. It startles, it fascinates, it wins.
As Mr Toad (of The Wind in the Willows fame) would undoubtedly have said, it is “A most unusual car!” – we are lucky that this most unusual car, the KTM X-BOW, exists in our lifetime.
This book details the design and development, the build process, racing history, and what it’s like to live with and maintain a X-BOW, written by joint owners and enthusiasts, with the full cooperation of the car’s designers and developers.
Dr Pathmanathan was born in Malaysia, where his interest in cars was kindled at the age of eight by the sight of the Lamborghini Marzal concept car at a Motor Show.
‘Path’ boarded at Cheltenham College, obtained a degree in Physiology from the University of London, and then his medical degree from Pembroke College, University of Cambridge. He trained as an eye surgeon in London, Southampton, and Liverpool, before doing a subspeciality fellowship in glaucoma at the University of Toronto. He has been a Consultant Eye Surgeon since 1999.
His interest in Lamborghini cars has never waned, and his primary interest is in the mid-engined, wedge-shaped, spaceframe-chassised, Lamborghini supercars, with their south-north orientated Bizzarrini engines and their genuinely vertical-opening guillotine doors.
He feels immensely privileged to have joint temporary custodianship of KTM X-BOW R Chassis 0642 , which only presented itself after a wait of ten years. His long-standing fascination with the X-BOW lies in the similarities and close associations that this radical road-racer shares with its current Lamborghini stablemates: Countach Chassis 12399, a Rosso Siviglia 88 1/2 5000 QV, and Murciélago Chassis 1564, an Arancio Atlas 2005 Roadster.
