Danish company Zenvo
is just celebrating their first decade of existence, but they already have a
hypercar that is actually able to compete with the most revered names in the
industry. With somewhat different philosophy and complete dedication, Zenvo is
quickly making a name for themselves in one of the most difficult niches out
there. How is this possible?
The design
Design is always important for a sports car. Paying huge
amounts of money for a car should provide you with the looks that are outstanding,
or at least distinctive and thought provoking. The first thing Zenvo had in
mind while constructing the ST1 was the design. They say that all sports cars
out there at the moment look the same and that they wanted to make a car like
no other. While we could argue against this point of complete uniformity in
design, we can also agree with it to some extent. So, let’s have a look at the
ST1 and see what they came up with.
The ST1 prototype is actually more like a completely
finished car rather than a prototype. It is smooth, with beautiful lines and
believable looks. Keen attention to detail is evident wherever you lay your
eyes and it by no means looks like a work in progress.
Looking at the front of the ST1 we can see the headlights
groups consisted of three angled circular lights at each side that direct the
view towards the honeycomb grille that is placed very low. Above it there are
massive gaps that look like air intakes which are also angled towards the
grille. The inconspicuous fog lights are cleverly placed low below the
headlights.
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| Zenvo ST1 front view |
The back is also great. The cars lowering roof line falls
below the line of the rear wheels thus leaving room for a non-protruding
spoiler which connects the two sides. The spoiler is subtle, but effective.
Despite all this, the back seems like a one-piece movement that is cleverly
saved from clean monotony by the lights and exhaust grouping on each side.
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| Zenvo ST1 rear view |
However, side view is simply amazing. Even the sharp lines
neatly flow from one shape to the other,
always following the same pathway and rounding up the appearance in every
respect. We can see how confident they were from the fact that the ST1 is
usually shown in white, which is the color that fails to mask design flaws. If a
car is white, it needs to be beautiful.
Some might say that Zenvo did not entirely succeed in
creating a different car. We could find some similarities with other sport cars
– namely the LFA, and even the R8 and – but the ST1 is hands down the best
looking one of them all. Somehow they managed to make it screamingly aggressive
and elegantly subtle at the same time.
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| The 'screamingly aggressive' part |
Interior
The interior is sleek and everything is easy to operate and
instantly readable, which is very important for fast information processing and
reacting the significance of which you will understand when you read what’s
under the hood. The steering wheel seems massive, but it leaves clean view of
the five-piece instrument cluster.
The seats are amazingly supportive and
comfortable enough, having in mind that this is an extremely fast car (wait for
it).
Other than that, not much else is going on that could distract you from
the road. The central part begins with the two vents, continues down towards the
multimedia screen and central console that consists of a protruding
transmission stick, three large dials and a strangely placed parking brake.
Still, you can choose to customize the interior features deciding
from a variety of colours, leather or Alcantara and aluminum and carbon fiber
details.
Under the hood
I barely sustained myself from telling you what’s in the
heart of this beast. The engine is a 7l V8. Now, you might wonder why it is
just the V8, and not V10 or even V12. The reason for this lies in the reduced
length of the V8. More cylinders would require the wheels to be taken further
back and this would impair the design greatly.
But, trust me, the ST1 lost
nothing due to this. The engine is turbocharged and supercharged and it
produces a mind-blowing 1,104hp at 6,900rpm and road-melting 1,050 lb-ft of
torque at 4,500rpm. And they said that the design was the main focus. Having in
mind the amazing weight reduction that brings the ST1 to weigh only 1,376kg
(3,033lb) the car is able to reach the top speed of 233mph and enjoy the
accelerations to 62mph in 3 seconds and to double as much in 8.9 seconds. And the
sound is just amazing.
The engine is paired with a single-clutch 7-speed
transmission that has the mentioned stick shifter, but also the F1 paddles that
are available in automatic mode. Stopping power is entrusted to Brembo carbon
fiber disks.
Final word
It is difficult to take the words of the creators seriously
when they say that they did not aim to create the fastest car in the world so
as not to ruin the design when you look at the figures and 1,000+ horsepower,
but in all fairness, the ST1 is far more than just a fast car. The design is
definitely more than successful and you will be pressed to find a more beautiful
and complete supercar. Add to this the house-built engine and the stunning
performance and the highly regarded competitors will have to start worrying
about the sales, right? Well, not entirely. Only 15 ST1s will be made so, even
though the car certainly poses a threat to other cars in its niche when it
comes to design and technology, it is not very likely to hurt anyone’s sales.
Photos: http://www.netcarshow.com/
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