FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Honda Project 2&4

Tipping the scales at just 405kg, it wouldn't really matter what engine was powering the intriguing Honda Project 2&4, a tiny open-wheel sports car making its debut at next week's Frankfurt motor show in Germany.

That Honda chose the RC213V MotoGP race bike engine makes this proposition far more interesting than, say, the 47kW 660cc turbo out of the  Honda S660 – chiefly because it has an ultra-high rev ceiling (14,000rpm) and also because it develops impressive punch from such as small power unit.

Pumping out 158kW of power at a mind-numbing 13,000rpm and 118Nm of torque at 10,500rpm, the mid-mounted 999cc V4 Honda race engine is hooked up to a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

As such, the wild Honda project car – which was first teased late last month and confirmed to incorporate MotoGP power a few days later will not only be incredibly loud, but ludicrously fast.

Expected to be rear-drive, the open-wheeler's near-160kW of power should be enough to make this one of the fastest Honda road cars ever made, given its circa-400kg mass.

Honda has not said how fast the car accelerates to 100km/h, nor what its top speed is, but it's safe to say the vehicle would be entertaining.

As the photos show, the vehicle has no cabin and no creature comforts. It's built purely for speed and handling. There's a seat, a steering wheel and two pedals.

The design, which was inspired by the Honda RA272 of 1965, was the winning entry from Honda's 'Global Design Project' which saw more than 80 designers within the Japanese company put forward their vision of how such a car would look.

That was no easy task considering the proportions of the vehicle – barely more than three metres long (3040mm) and less than a metre tall (995mm). It's pretty wide though, at 1820mm, which together with semi-slick Bridgestone tyres should deliver high levels of cornering grip.

Lump in a low centre of gravity and a neat weight distribution from the mid-mounted engine and the car will provide "an exceptionally high level of responsiveness", asserts Honda.

A collaboration between Honda’s motorcycle design studio in Asaka and the car studio in Wako, Japan, Honda says Project 2&4 blends "the most thrilling elements of riding a motorcycle with the most engaging characteristics of driving a car". Hence the name, Project 2&4.

For now it's simply a concept and it's not clear if the open-wheeler will influence future Honda production cars – or perhaps even a complete Ariel Atom-rivalling sports car from the world's biggest motorcycle maker.