In the world of hyper-expensive sports cars, heritage is everything. Volkswagen would never have purchased the Bugatti marque in 1998 and recreated it for the Noughties if it hadn’t had such a glorious history. And plenty have tried the same in the UK, with ambitious bands of enthusiast businessmen attempting to create modern versions of old heroes such as Jensen and Austin Healey.

Unless you subscribe to Classic & Sports Car magazine, however, I’ll bet you’ve never heard of the Veritas. The German sports car had a brief but eventful history in the late 1940s and early 1950s – Veritas built racing cars based on BMW mechanicals, winning 13 championship titles in Germany. In 1951, a Veritas became the first German Formula One car. Road cars followed (also based on BMW mechanicals), but the factory doors closed for the last time in 1953.

And so, duly armed with a worthy bit of heritage, the Veritas is back courtesy of a niche manufacturer called Vermot. And how. The result is what you see here, a fully functional prototype that has already outpaced a Ferrari F430 Scuderia around Germany’s Hockenheim race circuit (oh yes).

We first saw a clay concept of the outlandish-looking car back in 2000, but because the company doesn’t have a colossus like VW behind it, engineering, development and finance have taken a fair few years to put in place.

Like its forebears, the Veritas RS III uses BMW running gear, and when the first customer cars are delivered in July of next year, they will be offered with a V8 sourced from BMW’s M3, or the monstrous V10 as found in the M5 saloon.

However, Vermot reckoned that the BMW motors weren’t quite stonky enough. So the M3’s 5.0 litre V8 will be upgraded from 420bhp to a colossal 473bhp, while the V10 goes from standard 500bhp to a ballistic 592bhp. And the body, which sits on a tubular-frame chassis, is made of exotic, lightweight carbon-Kevlar to give the car an overall weight of just 1,170kg. So that’ll be 592bhp in a car that weighs less than most Mini Coopers. Blimey. Double blimey.

In the flesh, the Veritas has the kind of sinister presence that, even before the engine is fired, gives me a bout of prickly heat. At the front, the grille is meant to evoke the original’s (in much the way Aston Martin grilles hark back to the company’s 1950s style). That enormous power bulge over the bonnet makes room for the engine, which in the prototype is a V8 from BMW’s previous-generation M5.

Walk around to the back of the beautifully crafted and impossibly low body and you’ll find the Veritas’s other party piece: the dual exhausts emerge at the top of the rear deck, aimed like a couple of howitzers at following cars. As we will soon discover, nobody tailgates a Veritas.

Meant to evoke sports racers of the 1940s and 1950s, the Veritas is a single seater with a cowl covering the passenger side. This can be removed to reveal a passenger seat, and with the extra roll bar and small screen installed, you can terrify a passenger as well as yourself.

There’s a neat bit of design whimsy in the cockpit, too. The floor consists of nautically inspired wooden planking of the sort you might find on a Riva Aquarama. All the instrument bezels, handles, buttons and column stalks are gorgeously handcrafted alloy, which Vermot makes in house.

So I raise the thin sliver of door skyward and drop into the deep cockpit. I’m wearing a full-face helmet - essential in a 204mph open car with a credit-card-sized windscreen - which only enhances the sense that I’m driving a road-legal Le Mans car.

The start-up procedure is tantalising - flip a toggle switch that provokes a fizz from under the bonnet and prod the alloy start button. The V8, which is in 420bhp tune in the prototype, fills the cavernous Vermot garage with a wall of thunderous sound. The gearbox, BMW’s manual six-speed, has a mechanical feel to it and does need precise but forceful inputs. That’s partly because this is a prototype and partly because the Veritas aims to deliver a “pure” driving experience that echoes that of the mid-century era. That also means no antilock brakes, no traction control and no stability control. No guts, no glory.

We head for an autobahn, just to see what’ll happen next. First gear is dispatched with a rising V8 drum roll of apocalyptic dimensions. Second gear, and the mental traction-control light in my brain is flashing as the back end twitches about; same deal in third; and I’m pretty sure fourth will be just as epic. It is - but the power is so huge in such a light car, it doesn’t seem to matter which gear I’m in. Mash the throttle and the horizon is here. Now.

We leave the autobahn and find some twisting valley roads. The Veritas dispatches slower cars as though they’re parked, and with the car’s huge grip, circuit-tuned suspension and fabulous brakes, challenging corners just aren’t. If you want to get on the throttle early, big power slides are plainly on offer. For somebody braver than me.

The Veritas is an absolute hoot to drive. But this is no hyper-refined Bugatti-style rocket car. It requires a purposeful, hands-on approach and expects the driver to look after him or herself, not to rely on electronic nannies. It’s hot-rod-ish, and if you like the idea of a modern-day AC Cobra 427, a car that will put hairs on your chest, this might be your thing.

Vermot reckons it can build about 30 cars a year and there will be a coupé version, which we’ll see in about October. Sure, it’s comically expensive, but think of the fun you’ll have as the Ferrari F430 Scuderia driver stares in awe at those exhaust pipes before you blow them into the weeds.

- As is the style these days, the Veritas sports nifty LED sidelights at the front

- That intake scoop on the bonnet bulge is purely cosmetic, as the engine doesn’t need it for cooling or combustion

- For UK-based thrill-seekers, the Veritas can be ordered in right-hand drive

- No stability control. No ABS. No traction control. You know what they say: no guts, no glory

- Those very sexy dual exhausts mean that everybody gets to enjoy the V8’s glorious sound. Just don’t sit on them after a hard run

- The TRW Racing brakes are huge: 15in at the front and 14in at the rear. You’ll stop yesterday

- The beautifully crafted, complex alloy wheels are handmade in the factory

The Veritas has been wind-tunnel tested and, as a result, the production car will sport a little lip spoiler on the rear deck to enhance stability at high speed

Hot wheels specs

MODEL Vermot Veritas RS III
ENGINE 4999cc, V8 POWER 473bhp @ 6100rpm
TORQUE 442lb ft @ 8800rpm
TRANSMISSION Six-speed manual
FUEL / CO ACCELERATION 0-62mph: 3.6sec
TOP SPEED 204mph
PRICE £246,948
ROAD TAX BAND n/a
VERDICT A shatteringly fast European hot rod