Track day diary: Sabre Supersport 1000 at Bedford Autodrome

I'm betting that very few people out there will have heard of the Sabre Supersport 1000.

It's the brainchild of Andy Bates of AB Performance - a motorcycle sidecar racer-turned engineer and entrepreneur. The Sabre is his design for the ultimate track car and, thanks to investment from Peter Jones after appearing on the BBC's Dragon's Den programme, the project has taken off.

So what is it? The Sabre uses a 998cc Honda Fireblade engine with a six-speed sequential gearbox. That all sits inside a spaceframe chassis made of lightweight T45 steel, giving the whole car a dry mass of just 490kg. The LMP-style bodywork gives the car the same race-inspired look as the Radical SR3 - its closest competitor. The SR3 is a very good car, and as our road test proves, for something that can work both on the road and on the track, there isn't currently anything better.

However, while even an approved-used SR3 can cost anywhere from £25-£50,000, an all-new Sabre can be had for just less than £30,000.

And the best part? We've just bought one.

We is myself, my dad Hadrian and my brother Chris. Both have done entry-level motorsport before and, along with myself, wanted something to take onto the track and have fun with. We're no strangers to track days - having run a Westfield Megablade also prepared by AB Performance for the past year. Between selling that, and our Porsche 911 993 Targa - the Sabre suddenly became very affordable.

So, almost seven months after signing on the dotted line, this weekend was the first chance we had to take the Sabre out onto the track. The venue? Bedford Autodrome, famed for its wide open spaces and rather strict noise restrictions. 

Soon enough the green light was on and the pit lane was open. There were 88 other cars present for this track day - more than double the on-circuit limit of 40 - so the track was crowded to start with. Still, after some quick adjustments the car was ready to head out. Having paid for it, my dad was given the first go. 

He returned just two laps later, saying the Sabre's Flatshifter - which allows the car to control gear changes using only the throttle, rendering upshifts clutch-less - was playing up. Some quick adjustment and it was ready to go out again, this time with brother Chris at the wheel. 

Two laps down again, and he was back in. Smiling, but saying there was a lot of heat coming through the rear firewall. That could be because we'd had to swap the normal race exhaust for a road-legal one to save on noise, says Andy, so we'd have to change that.