evo has already driven the Sport 190 - the number refers to its power output in PS; in old fashioned money it's 187bhp - but only on the track. This is to be a trip on some of Her Majesty's highways, because the beauty of this conversion, carried out at Hethel by Lotus Sport and Performance (LSP), is that it's emissions-compliant and road-legal, yet still a lot like a track car. But just because it's a circuit star doesn't necessarily make it king of the B-roads.

LSP does a basic Sport 190 upgrade package that comprises heavily modifying the 1.8-litre K-series to produce the aforementioned horsepower at a banshee 8000rpm, together with 145lb ft of torque at 5000rpm; it also includes chucking some ultra-short-ratio cogs into the gearbox, uprating the clutch plate, lowering the ride height, stiffening up the springs and dampers, upgrading the brakes and adding Exige-size wheels. Our test car also came with optional slippery diff, carbon airbox, 340R-style seats (to accommodate the harnesses), extinguisher system, and kill switches for the battery.

Oh, and Yokohama AO48 tyres, which have a handful of grooves cut into them for road use but have a fairly strong track-bias to their construction. That was a bit of a shame given that while we had the car water-skis would have been more appropriate footwear. To the AO48s' credit, though, they coped admirably with puddles the size of boating lakes.

A slightly uneven idle and a savage bark when you blip the throttle are early indicators this is an Elise with extra fizz. So too is a loss of tractability at low revs - you need at least 2500rpm on the dial to move away swiftly from rest and out of junctions. It's not that the engine won't pull - in fact, it'll trundle along in fifth at barely more than 1000rpm - it's simply that at low revs it lacks any real vigour.

It's plenty noisy, though. Below 4000rpm and on part-throttle, the induction system blarts and whumps with a steam-hammer rhythm. Click the throttle pedal against its end-stop and hold it there and the sound segues from industrial to animal as the Very High Performance Derivative, or VHPD, cylinder head gathers pace and voice. The change-up light in the tacho suggests shifting at 6800rpm but is best ignored if you want to be treated to the full-on, and manic, racecar soundtrack of a charge towards 8000rpm.

With all the commotion comes motion, and lots of it provided you keep the engine howling along in the sweet spot. The Sport 190's pace is of the sweaty-forehead, 'dare I keep my toe down?' variety, and on deserted back roads can lead to some nerve-stretching moments as you play 'hit the redline in fourth'. Its acceleration is brutal. We were there when Lotus ran some figures on this car and they supported our gut instinct - it's outrageously quick. In the wet it posted a 4.8sec 0-60 and cracked 100mph in 12.1.

The firmer suspension is very tolerant of even quite grim road surfaces while nicely limiting the amount of body-roll through corners. We like the ballsier brakes, too, although in the wet you have to get on them extra-early to clear the water off the discs.

Add the basic Sport 190 package to the price of a pre-registered standard Elise and you have a ΂£33,000 car. It's a stack of cash, certainly, but it's buying a very large pile of performance, thrills and fun, all bundled into a machine that's the perfect size for running ragged down your average British B-road. Some of the bike-engined specials are faster on the track, but at sparrow's on a rainy Sunday morning in January, I promise you I wouldn't have got out of bed for any of them. The Sport 190 may be devilishly loud, yet for a near-racer it makes a captivating road car.