The world will meet the brand new ultra-light Zenos E10 sports car for the first time next month at Europe’s largest dedicated motorsport trade show, Autosport International.
On 9-12 January at Birmingham’s NEC, the first model from Zenos Cars, a partnership between former Caterham Cars CEO Ansar Ali and COO Mark Edwards, will be unveiled along with pricing and additional technical details. Having also worked together at Lotus, Ali and Edwards have over 30 years of experience in the niche sports car sector.
Track focused yet road legal, the open-top, step-in, two-seater is powered by a mid-mounted 2.0-litre Ford engine producing 200bhp. Weighing only 650kg, it delivers a power-to-weight ratio of 300bhp/tonne and covers 0-60mph in under five seconds.
Beneath a body that’s set to consist of 18 panels, the unique chassis architecture lends itself to the Zenos name: a combination of ‘zen’ to represent purity, and ‘os’, loosely Latin for ‘vertebra’.
A single, aluminium extrusion ‘backbone’ spans the length of the E10, delivering impressive torsional rigidity, accompanied by an aluminium rear sub frame and a safety cell incorporating twin roll hoops and side-impact protection. The flexibility and low investment demand of the Zenos platform architecture has been recognised through a development grant from the Niche Vehicle Network.
The driver and passenger sit either side of the spine in an integrated carbon composite monocoque, constructed from recycled carbon fibre as a skin with a thermoplastic core; a lightweight, strong and cost-effective solution.
Autosport International exhibitors Alcon, Bilstein, Corebeau and Titan are among the partners involved in the project.
The E10 is due to enter production in late 2014, with first customer deliveries expected during the opening quarter of 2015. Based on the same chassis architecture, two further models are in the pipeline for the next five years, a Roadster, Project E11, and a GT Coupé, Project E12.
