There are race cars, and then there are race cars that make you stop mid-conversation, stare at them and ask the rather obvious question “How bloody fast is that thing?”
The NXT MK1 EVO is firmly in the second category, and that was the question I had when I spotted it at the 2026 Chengdu Motor Show.
Because when someone casually tells you that the car weighs around 760kg, produces up to 451hp, packs 550Nm of torque, uses a six-speed sequential gearbox and is wrapped in a full aerodynamic package, my brain immediately started doing the maths. And the maths is rather exciting.
This is the NXT MK1 EVO, a new Chinese-built racing prototype from NXT Motorsport that is aiming to bring serious race-car performance into a package that is lightweight, technically sophisticated and, importantly, designed to be used rather than simply admired.
And having spoken with the people behind the car, one thing becomes very clear, this isn’t some wild engineering exercise where someone threw a big engine into a lightweight chassis and hoped for the best. The MK1 EVO is the result of a much more deliberate philosophy.
Make it light. Make it fast. Make it adjustable. And make it something a driver can actually learn from.
So, What Exactly Is the NXT MK1 EVO?
At first glance, the MK1 EVO looks like something that has escaped from a much more expensive racing programme.
It is a compact, enclosed-cockpit prototype measuring 4,226mm long, 1,850mm wide and just 1,115mm high. Underneath the carbon-fibre bodywork sits a tubular spaceframe chassis, while the suspension uses pushrod-operated double wishbones and Öhlins TTX-36 two-way adjustable dampers.
In other words, this isn’t a road car with the number plates removed. It has been designed from the outset as a closed-course racing machine.
Everything about the MK1 EVO is centred around reducing mass, increasing aerodynamic performance and giving the driver the tools required to exploit both.
Sure the headline numbers are impressive enough (760kg, 451hp and 550Nm in case you forgot), but perhaps the most important number is the one created when you put those figures together – Around 593hp per tonne.
That’s the sort of power-to-weight ratio that tends to turn a perfectly rational human being into someone who starts looking at track-day calendars.That means the engine doesn’t have to work very hard to make the car move very quickly.
And lightweight cars have another rather lovely advantage, they don’t just accelerate quickly. They stop quickly, they change direction quickly, they place less demand on their tyres, they put less thermal stress through their brakes. And they generally feel more alive because there is simply less mass trying to convince the car to continue doing whatever it was doing five milliseconds ago. That’s one of the reasons lightweight racing cars can be so addictive.
The Evolution of the MK1
The name EVO isn’t simply there because it sounds suitably aggressive either. The MK1 EVO follows the original NXT MK1, and NXT’s development programme has clearly been about taking what it learned from the first car and turning those lessons into something considerably more capable.
The original MK1 used a 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing around 350hp at the wheels, combined with a Hewland TMT-200 six-speed sequential transmission.
The EVO takes that basic philosophy and turns the wick up considerably. The latest car uses a 2,261cc turbocharged inline-four, featuring twin-scroll turbocharging and direct injection.
So this isn’t a gigantic engine producing huge numbers simply because NXT can. It’s a relatively compact four-cylinder sitting in a car weighing less than many modern production-car engines.
Ford Power — With a Racing Twist
During our conversation, the question inevitably turned to what sits behind the driver. The answer is a turbocharged four-cylinder engine sourced from Ford, with the MK1 EVO’s powertrain developed around the requirements of a proper racing application.
That engine is then paired with a Hewland TMT-200 six-speed sequential transmission. And if you’ve never experienced a proper sequential race gearbox, imagine the difference between asking politely for the next gear and simply demanding it.
The MK1 EVO uses an electronically controlled, air-operated paddle-shift system, allowing rapid gear changes while keeping the driver focused on braking points, apexes and the increasingly urgent matter of where the track goes next.
Power reaches the rear wheels through a Powerflow multi-plate limited-slip differential. This is very much old-school racing philosophy with modern engineering behind it.
Four cylinders, turbocharger, rear-wheel drive, sequential gearbox, aerodynamics, low mass and absolutely nowhere to hide.
Four Different Levels of Madness
Perhaps one of the cleverest aspects of the MK1 EVO is that NXT hasn’t simply built a car with an enormous “ON” switch.
The car has four selectable power levels: 260hp — Foundation. 320hp — Development. 390hp — Advanced. 451hp — Full Output. That is a wonderfully sensible idea for something that could otherwise be somewhat intimidating.
A driver can begin with 260hp and learn the car, braking points, controls and chassis behaviour before gradually increasing the power. Then comes 320hp. Then 390hp.
And finally, when the driver is ready, the full 451hp becomes available. It’s effectively a racing-car development programme built into the vehicle.
And that tells us something about NXT’s thinking. The objective isn’t simply to build the fastest possible car. It’s to build a car that allows the driver to become faster.
Aero: Where Things Get Serious
Of course, 451hp and 760kg would be enough to make the MK1 EVO interesting. But NXT hasn’t stopped there.
The EVO has been designed around a significant aerodynamic package, with published aerodynamic coefficients of ClA 3.6 and CdA 0.9, giving an aero efficiency figure of 4.0. The front aerodynamic balance can also be adjusted between 40 and 50 percent.
And this is where a lightweight prototype starts to behave very differently from a powerful road car. A road car largely relies on its tyres and mechanical grip. A serious racing prototype adds another ingredient: air.
At speed, the aero package effectively pushes the car into the circuit. The faster you go, the more important that becomes. And suddenly the driver isn’t simply managing horsepower, they’re managing the relationship between aerodynamic load, braking, steering, throttle and tyre grip. Racing starts becoming properly complicated and properly addictive.
Race-Car Hardware Everywhere
Look underneath the MK1 EVO and the parts list reads like a motorsport shopping list. The suspension uses pushrod double wishbones front and rear, combined with Öhlins TTX-36 two-way adjustable dampers.
The braking system features 345mm front discs and 330mm rear discs, with four-piston calipers at both ends. The wheels are staggered too, with 17-inch wheels at the front and 18-inch units at the rear.
The car’s digital systems are equally serious. A Conspit 290GP steering wheel/display provides driver information, while the Marelli Motorsport ECU includes internal data logging, with data export available through USB and analysis handled using Marelli WinTAX. Because going fast is one thing, knowing why you went fast is another.
And Then There’s the Driver
This might be one of the most important details of the whole car. The MK1 EVO isn’t designed around the assumption that every driver is the same shape.
The pedals and steering column are adjustable, while a custom-moulded foam seat insert is designed to accommodate drivers between approximately 160cm and 190cm tall.
That may sound like a small detail. It isn’t. When you’re driving a race car at the limit, ergonomics become performance. If your seating position is wrong, your steering inputs suffer. If your pedals aren’t right, braking suffers. If you aren’t properly supported, you’re using your muscles to hold yourself in place rather than concentrating on driving.
A good race car should effectively disappear around its driver. The MK1 EVO is clearly being designed with that principle in mind.
Built in China, But Not Alone
ANOTHER fascinating aspect of the NXT project is where it comes from. NXT Motorsport is a Chinese racing-car manufacturer, with its development and manufacturing operations based around Shanghai.
But the MK1 EVO isn’t an exercise in “build everything ourselves because we can”. Instead, NXT has combined its own vehicle integration and development work with established international motorsport suppliers.
The gearbox comes from Britain’s Hewland. The dampers are from Sweden’s Öhlins.The engine management is from Italy’s Marelli. And the result is a rather interesting mixture of Chinese vehicle engineering and globally recognised racing technology.
China’s automotive industry has become extremely good at developing road cars at extraordinary speed. The next question is whether that engineering capability can translate into the much smaller, more specialised world of motorsport. NXT appears determined to answer that question with a rather loud exhaust note.
The Testing Has Already Begun
The MK1 EVO isn’t simply sitting under studio lights waiting for its big reveal. Testing has been underway. Reports from NXT’s development programme show the car being tested at Shanghai Tianma Circuit in extremely hot conditions, with temperatures approaching 38–39°C.
Early testing reportedly focused heavily on cooling and braking temperatures, with the car continuing to manage its thermal systems successfully despite the heat. That’s actually more important than a flashy lap time.
Anyone can build a car that is spectacular for three laps. Building one that can repeatedly run hard, maintain temperatures and survive the punishment of circuit use is a completely different engineering challenge. And that appears to be exactly what NXT is trying to prove.
Then Came the Lap Time
And eventually, of course, somebody pressed the stopwatch. The MK1 EVO has reportedly recorded a 1:00.95 lap at Shanghai Tianma Circuit, with the car reaching around 190km/h during the lap. Earlier testing had produced a 1:01.7 lap in very hot conditions, with NXT continuing to work on the car’s dynamic setup.
The car isn’t being presented as a finished object that magically appeared one morning. It’s being developed, tested, adjusted, tested again. And that’s exactly how a race car should be created. The lap time is therefore less interesting as a “look how fast we are” statement and more interesting as a benchmark for where the development programme is going.
More Than Just Speed
NXT positions the MK1 EVO in a rather unusual space: performance above GT3 while targeting operating costs below Formula 4. That is a manufacturer positioning statement rather than a direct apples-to-apples comparison, and actual costs and performance will obviously depend on specification, tyres, circuit and running programme.
But the philosophy is clear. NXT isn’t necessarily trying to build the most expensive race car in the paddock. It’s trying to build something fast enough to be seriously exciting without making the owner mortgage the house every time the engine starts. That could be a very interesting proposition.
The car also carries an 80-litre FIA-approved fuel cell, while safety equipment includes features such as electrical isolation and trackside status/emergency provisions. Final competition specifications will depend on the regulations and customer configuration.
Tarmac Takeaway
There’s something quite exciting happening here. For decades, the world of serious motorsport engineering has been dominated by familiar names from Europe, Japan and North America.
Now China is beginning to produce its own generation of specialist performance machinery. And the NXT MK1 EVO is a particularly interesting example because it isn’t trying to imitate a road-going supercar. It’s a race car, a proper one. Lightweight, low, aerodynamic, sequential, turbocharged, data-rich, adjustable and completely uninterested in being practical. Which, frankly, is exactly what you want from a racing car.
The big question is “When can I drive it?” That’s the one we’re waiting to have answered.
