ALMOST EVERY KIT CAR HAS A UNIQUE SELLING POINT, but the Aeon GT³ Coupe has an outstanding one: it has three seats with the driver’s perch mounted in the centre (though you can opt for a two-seater GT² if you prefer).

That gives the driver a unique experience that has to be tried to be fully appreciated. It might be easy to think of the three-seat Aeon merely as a novelty – but it certainly isn’t. The briefest drive reveals a depth of talent possessed only by truly capable sports cars. The driving position is spot-on, the controls well judged, the ride and handling well balanced and, with the standard Ford Duratec installation, it’s quick enough to retain your interest, too. It’s one of those cars that feels right from the very off.

The spaceframe chassis typically plays host to a 2-litre Ford Duratec four-cylinder engine or the 2.5-litre Ford Duratec V6 engine, although other units from a variety of front-wheel drive donors can be fitted to the mid-engined Aeon. The Le Mans-inspired styling has been fine-tuned in MIRA’s wind tunnel so, in case you were wondering, that rear spoiler is effective.

The thinking behind the seating layout was to offer a single-seater style experience with the driver in a central position. The two passenger seats are a happy consequence which make the Aeon slightly more practical than most kit cars, which are typically two-seaters.