Question: What has 178bhp, a dry weight of just 450kg and can get from 0-60mph in under four seconds?

The answer is a Sabre.

If you’re a regular reader you’ll know that the Moss Motorsport venture has been a bit quiet of late. Ever since our Westfield Megablade limped back to the pits at Rockingham race circuit after a particularly vicious track day in December, and was diagnosed with a very ruined gearbox, we’ve been looking for something to fill the void.

The story so far then, is this. The Westfield was transplanted to Andy Bates, the motorcycle Engine guru who has dealt with the car in the past and was probably the man most likely to fix whatever damage we’d caused. We were left with three choices: rebuild the gearbox, replace the engine with a salvaged one or scrap the car and sell it on without a working engine.

The third option was tempting, because in our own ways we all felt like we’d reached our limits with the Westfield. Don’t get me wrong it was a fantastic car, nippy and cheerful in the same way that a small fox terrier puppy can be.

The problem was that we now wanted a bulldog.

Andy’s Sabre would seem to be the perfect answer. Developed with the knowledge of his 20 years racing superbike engines, this track-only racer is light, strong and above all, fast. Just take a look at some of the Youtube videos below to see what I mean.

Looks good, no?

To take us back to the story, there was still one hurdle to overcome. You see, while the Sabre manages to rival its competitors in performance it is by no means cheap, and even with the Money Coming from selling the Westfield we’d still be short of the price tag.

Very handy then, that Moss Motorsport Team Leader, Financier, Chief Medical Officer and Test Driver Hadrian Moss has also decided to sell his Porsche. It’s a 993 911 Targa, if you’re interested, and the advert to sell it is currently listed on Pistonheads, here.

With the money coming from both sales, we reckon we’ll have enough to cover the cost of upgrading our track toy. Which is why just a few weeks ago at the Autosport International show in Birmingham, we signed on the dotted line. We bought a Sabre.

In just a few months we’ll take delivery of a proper racer. Here are some of the headline stats from the AB Performance website: “A lightweight steel spaceframe chassis supports aero section steel wishbones on pushrod inboard suspension with tuning fork anti roll bars.

At the heart of Sabre is a high powered four cylinder four stroke superbike engine making over 170 bhp and complete with integral 6 speed sequential gearbox.

Power is transmitted to the wheels via bespoke driveshafts driving our own CNC machined billet alloy hubs, through a quaife limited slip differential.

Cast uprights house low friction wheel bearings and connect to the wishbones via our own billet toe control clevises.

A heavy duty 530 D.I.D X-ring chain is used to transmit power from engine to differential.

All of this engineering is then clad in our own LMP style lightweight self coloured GRP bodywork.

Instrumentation is Digidash as standard with optional datalogging.

Steering is achieved with a heavily modified 2.4 ratio quick rack mounted on billet carriers.

Gearchange system is our own billet anodised paddleshift for lightening quick up and down shifts and a flatshifter can be incorporated as an optional extra.

Four pot billet callipers on grooved discs and race pads ensure you can stop as fast as you accelerate”

We can’t wait for the car to be delivered, but first there’s the small matter of building it. Andy has started putting the first parts of the Sabre together in his workshop, and you’ll be able to follow each step of the journey here, and on the Moss Motorsport website. Or, if you’re a Twitterist, you can follow us on there, too.

One thing’s for sure – when that first track day arrives with the Sabre, we’ll finally find out whether the men can match the machine. Here’s hoping, eh?