Whatever the reason, the county has spawned yet another wannabe; the Leading Edge Sports Car Company. But while the name is new, the hip-high roadster may be familiar to those of you with a memory for short-lived sports cars; yup, the Leading Edge 190RT is the Tommy Kaira ZZ reincarnated.

In Japan, the only market where the Tommy Kaira was sold seriously, the ZZ has a cult following - in Britain the high price, coupled to dynamics not as finely honed as they might have been and a total lack of practicality, ensured it was never going to trouble the Elise. And its lack of left-hand drive killed any chance of selling it in Europe or the States. So when the sun sank on the Japanese economy, darkness and insolvency descended on Tommy Kaira.
But the ZZ was already made in Norfolk so the receivers sold the tooling and inventory to locally-based Breckland Technology Ltd - BreckTech for short - run by ex-Lotus engineer Mark Easton.

Then another Norfolk connection, Paul Mickleburgh, set up The Leading Edge Sports Car Company to market the renamed 190RT in the UK, Europe and, crucially, the States. Technical help comes from Oliver Winterbottom, whose portfolio includes the Lotus Europa Twin Cam and Elite, and the TVR Tasmin.

So essentially BreckTech makes the cars and sells them to Leading Edge to sell on to others, spreading the financial burden and risk. BreckTech's business case is built around selling just 50 units a year, exhibiting a sense of realism seldom seen in the specialist car market.

But what about the car? Essentially it's little changed from the original ZZ. It has the same glassfibre body, an extruded aluminium central tub topped and tailed by tubular metal subframes, double wishbones at all four corners, and is powered by a mid-mounted Nissan 2-litre twin-cam, four-carb, 16-valver banging out 180bhp. With a few tweaks it's good for 195bhp and an ex-Nissan Touring Car technician is developing a hotter cylinder head, claimed to give 240bhp.

There are a few developments, though. The fuel tank used to be on the left-hand side, seriously intruding on cabin space - it's now narrower and runs the full width of the car, allowing the passenger seat to be moved back whilst improving weight distribution. Moving the radiator to the front of the car further helps the spread of weight. Both subframes are stiffer, the rear tyres are bigger than the fronts, and the damping (checked by chassis guru Roddy Harvey-Bailey) has been revised.

The RT190 is bare-metal-basic inside, for that Elise-like 'gone racing' look, and you sit low and flat. But despite the seats being sharply angled towards the centre, on the move you feel well placed and supported. Unless you're tanking on, that is, when the open sides let the wind turn your eyelids inside out - so wear goggles or buy the optional sidescreens.

Lead feet are required for the throttle and brake pedals, but treated mean they provide plenty of go and stop. The loud and snorty engine appreciates being pinned against the red line and left there. With only 763kg to lug along, once it hits the power band - 4000rpm upward - it mashes the 190RT down the road like a Sampras serve. This is a quick car and, unlike the Elise, always feels it.

The ride quality is firm but fair, the steering direct and meaty, and the handling... well, the handling's for another day, because there was nothing on our test route that came even close to generating body-roll, let alone stretching the limits of the chassis. But on brief acquaintance the Leading Edge 190RT plays the sports car with accomplishment and confidence - our ultimate verdict on the car will have to wait until we've had it on a track, where it belongs and is likely to end up in the hands of most owners. If the price can be held down to the ΂£26,500 Leading Edge is aiming towards, the 190RT ought to enjoy the success that the ZZ never achieved.