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Five Delta E-4 Coup�s are already running; two are seen here during the media launch at Silverstone.

This is the E-4 Coupé, an electric sports designed and built by Delta Motorsport, an engineering consultancy based at the Silverstone circuit in England - and the company, founded in 2005 by Simon Dowson and Nick Carpenter, is making some outrageous claims for the little two-seater's performance.

Thanks to their experience in motorsport and their focus on light weight and high-efficiency systems, Dowson says, they've been able to build an electric car with a range of 320km on a single charge, that can accelerate from 0-100 in less than five seconds and hit 240km/h.

Dowson said: "We got involved in designing hybrid and electric cars because they share many of the engineering challenges associated with motorsport - lightweight parts, aerodynamic efficiency and innovative packaging solutions.

“We've had to re-think road cars from scratch, looking at low-cost composite structures, system efficiencies and innovative seating."

The E-4 has a carbon composite chassis, designed by Delta and manufactured by KS Composites, that weighs only 85kg - about a third of a comparable steel structure that'll pass EU crash tests.

Its direct-drive electric motors were designed in partnership with Oxford University and Oxford Yasa Motors; they produce more than 90kW and 600Nm each but weigh only 23kg apiece.

The Delta E-4 Coup� has two, direct-drive Oxford Yasa electric motors, each contributing 90kW and 600Nm to the car's performance.

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The Coupé’s low, sporty seating position with the batteries mounted under the floor gives it superb handling and helps reduce erodynamic drag.

Five E-4's have already been built, using government funding, as part of the Accelerate consortium that aims to showcase high-performance electric vehicles designed and engineered in Britain.

At least one will also take in the RAC Future Car Challenge on November 5, the day before the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, the world's longest-running motoring event. The Challenge will see the latest low-energy vehicles compete for the same 96km route, the winner being the car that uses the least amount energy to cover the distance.