21 / 56
R O A D
T R A C K
R A C E
021
S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
sis with a central spine and tub
could be said to make the car too
stiff, but Edwards and a number
of very happy customers would
disagree. He says: “People shoot
for 25,000 nm per degree of tor-
sion or rigidity, and I think that
you need to be careful you don’t
get into a bragging competition
and end up with something that
loses the comfort level. We knew
we needed to be somewhere in
between 10 and 12,000 degrees
of stiffness. A basic Caterham is
about 4,000 and no one has ever
complained about that. We never
wanted to go so far it was too
stiff and harsh and only suitable
as a track car.
“We worked with Bill Stein on
the damping and Eibech on the
springs. The E10 S on track setup
is still more comfortable on the
road than an Elise.”
The affordability of the car
comes from its on the road price
but also from the way the car is
built to help reduce repair bills.
Edwards explains this important
feature: “You only repair what
you break. There are 18 different
body panels on the car, so if you
take a corner badly you might re-
place a wing or a diffuser end cap
but not a whole clam shell like
you would on a Lotus Elise.”
Safety is very important to all
car manufacturers, especially
when a car is designed to go on
track. Edwards says: “The car
doesn’t have to meet side impact
regulations under the IVA scheme
but we’ve tested it and it would
be compliant. When we consider
doors in the future, the frame we
currently have will be removed
and replaced with a door beam.
This means we can maintain the
structure of the car.”
DB4 OR ZENOS?
Many other sports car manu-
facturers live off the success of
motorsport and the notoriety that
brings. Caterham and Ginetta are
the obvious examples but Zenos
could join their ranks one day.
Edwards says: “We said from the
outset that motorsport is great
for the brand and great for spares
business, but to do it and do it
well is a huge effort.
“To get a brand off the ground
in three years, establish a net-
work and then try motorsport
would be too difficult. We’ll let
the market decide, whether
that’s a couple of people who
want to race or a group of 25
who want us to set up a cham-
pionship, we’ll be there and will
support them every step of the
way, but to set all that up right
now would be difficult.”
Mark once said his favourite
car was the Aston Martin DB4
so in closing we got him to clear
that up once and for all. “That
was before the Zenos existed,”
he says, “so now it’s clearly a
Zenos!”