If you're the sort of driver who eschews creature comforts for driver focused fun, your range of options always seems to be expanding. Following on from the E10 and E10 S track cars, Zenos has cranked up the power with the new 2.3-liter turbocharged E10 R.
At the core of the new E10R is a mid-mounted, turbocharged 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine, which produces 261 kW (350 hp) and 475 Nm. That's eclipses the 200 bhp (149 kW) output of the original E10 and rivals the power of the Ford Focus RS, but instead of carting around four doors, five seats and a whole heap of complex all-wheel drive hardware the Zenos weighs just 700 kg (1543 lb) dry. The Focus RS weighs more than twice that.
All that power in such a light body means the E10 R is properly quick. From a standstill it will hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.0 seconds on its way to a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).
Of course there's more to trackdays than blasting down the back straight – the E10R needs to impress in the corners as well. Built around the same carbon-composite cockpit as its lesser stablemates, the R's body has a steel safety cell bonded to an aluminum spine. This stiff body allows drivers to take full advantage of the double wishbone suspension and uprated Bilstein dampers sitting on each corner.
The car sits on special edition OZ Racing wheels wrapped in Avon ZZS tires measuring 195/50R16 up front and 225/45R17 at the rear. As well as looking fantastic, Zenos says the new R Edition wheels reduce unsprung mass by over 10 kg (22lb) compared to the units on the regular E10 and E10S.
As you'd expect of a super lightweight track special, things are spartan inside. The driver and their lucky passenger sit in composite seats with four point harnesses, but when a "cockpit light" and 12V power socket are the third and fourth things on the interior feature list, you know it's definitely not a Rolls-Royce inside.
That's not to say you can't add a bit of spice to the interior. Carbon fiber seats, six point racing harnesses and a quick release steering wheel are all available, but because we're a little bit soft we'd be ticking the box for heated seats before anything else.
A big part of the Zenos ethos has always been about making performance accessible, so it's no surprise to see the E10R, with it's 500 hp/tonne power-to-weight ratio, doesn't cost the earth. Instead, it costs £39,995 (US$44K) – still not cheap, but reasonable considering the car's impressive performance and clever suspension setup.
Source: Zenos
