'Not here to chase numbers' | Zenvo Automotive

A Nordic work ethic meant the story behind Zenvo's 1,177hp TSR-S was largely untold - until now...

By Sam Sheehan / Thursday, 30 April 2020 / Loading comments

We're so accustomed to manufacturers announcing every incremental improvement made to their cars that those who remain quiet appear to be virtually inactive. That's why you'd be forgiven for thinking the employees of Zenvo had been twiddling their thumbs prior to the launch of the new TSR-S back in March. To all intents and purposes, the Danish supercar looks like a mild update of the track-focussed machine we know from first-hand experience. But, in fact, it's claimed to be a 1,177hp culmination of various innovations which Zenvo has just not been very good at communicating to the world.

"It's just not the Danish way," James Bannister, Zenvo's PR and Marketing Director, tells PH. "There's this modesty in the culture that means they've been so focussed on achieving their objectives and creating solutions to problems, that they haven't really gotten around to telling outsiders about the successes", he says. "I've always been wondering why these guys aren't shouting about what they do, as there's so much amazing stuff going on."

That's all about to change, as the recent recruitment of actual PR to Zenvo suggests. So now the world will be kept more up to date with the company's latest developments, including the technological leaps that have caught the attention of several high-ranking industry bods. Jens Sverdrup, Czinger chief commercial officer and former Koenigsegg and Rimac employee, is among them, with the Norwegian being so fascinated by Zenvo's carbonfibre work in particular that he joined its advisory board. Jens described Zenvo's work as something to aspire to when we spoke to him earlier this month.

Zenvo, now 16 years old, launched its first car, the supercharged and turbocharged V8 Zenvo ST1 supercar, back in 2009. That car - the brainchild of CEO Troels Vollertsen - used a Chevrolet-sourced 7.0-litre LS7 boosted to 1,104hp at a time before electric hypercars were routinely producing four-figure numbers. It certainly made waves at that Geneva motor show. But the brand's efforts were overshadowed by the following Top Gear TV coverage, which saw a prototype catch fire due to a cooling unit failure, before a subsequent timed lap in the rain (with a second car) ranked it behind supercar rivals.

Things have certainly moved on a lot since those days, with the 2016 TS1 GT and its twin-supercharged 5.9-litre V8 an illustration of the alternative route now taken. The engine is built from an GM LSX-derived block, but it uses an ultra-tough billet-milled crankshaft and forged pistons. The two superchargers, centrifugal Rotrexes, each force-feed their own bank, giving a more linear, easier-to-manage supply of that enormous peak power. It's intended to be faster, easier to operate and more reliable.

"The team is still tiny at Zenvo - there are around 20 staffers on site - yet the skills they've got to make complicated and expensive parts from the ground up are outstanding," says Bannister. "In the latest [£1.5 million] TSR-S, for example, they couldn't get an external supplier to meet their requirements for the carbon work or for the gearbox, so they came up with solutions internally. What they've achieved is fantastic, ingenious stuff."

Zenvo's handiwork enabled its team to create fully-fragmented carbonfibre wheels, which are different to Lamborghini's similarly named solution because "each of the individual pieces are handmade". He explains that Zenvo calls it "fragmented carbon as opposed to a forged carbon" because of this, and the process enables even greater strength and weight saving. The four wheels are 15kg lighter than their aluminium predecessors, for example, a significant reduction in unsprung mass on a car as athletic as the TSR-S.

"All of the wheels are made in house because the Zenvo carbon work is second to none," says Bannister. "They're absolute control freaks, so much so that each wheel takes a week to make, with the crafters able to make bespoke shapes and interweave patterns into the carbon elsewhere on the car. It's like nothing else done before."

It doesn't take a business genius to see the opportunity in this new, customisable carbon. And this level of innovation is applied to the carbon weave laid on every panel of the car - something Czinger CCO Sverdrup went out of his way to emphasise during our earlier interview. He suggested that Zenvo were setting the bar for carbon in the industry, something that owners of other carbon-laden cars have quickly realised leaves the weave on their similarly expensive machinery looking a little rough around the edges. Without naming any names...

Zenvo's new electrified gearbox illustrates the technological progress made elsewhere. Bannister describes it as "a defining feature of the car" because it's said to mix race times with road usability. Essentially, Zenvo has taken a dogbox sequential design and created a system "with helical cut gears that can be used on the road and still perform on track". Anyone who knows how clunky and jerky a sequential 'box is at low speed will appreciate the extent of work required to achieve this. Bannister says the nearly finished part has "a brilliant tactility to its operation, despite it being so advanced".

It earns that description thanks to the addition of an electric motor in the gearbox, something that -when development is complete - will allow the TSR-S to use seven forward gears and no reverse cog because the motor can spin in both directions. Naturally, it also provides a torque-filling ability that both smooths low-speed shifts and keeps up the pace during quick ones. It has enabled changes to the ratios so the flat-plane-cranked V8 can now sprint the car from 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds and 0-124mph in 6.8 seconds. The latter time is a whole second quicker than a McLaren 720S.

"There's been a constant evolution of the product to achieve what's there today," says Bannister. "With private investors Zenvo's always had a lot of capability behind the scenes to really invest into technology rather than just buy from the shelf, with the hybrid gearbox the latest to open up new potential for future models."

While Covid-19 has ensured that we're still some way off from learning exactly what Zenvo has in the pipeline beyond its TSR-S, Bannister does highlight the preparedness of Zenvo to press on with further innovation. Remember that titling rear wing? Another Zenvo creation that hasn't been without its doubters, but those to try it - including PH - have felt the benefits of its activeness, beyond the peak 305kg of downforce it helps to deliver. The design has legs, Bannister says, and not just in its ability to enhance aerodynamic performance.

"The technologies Zenvo develops are all about making the cars more fun to drive," he explains. "So that wing meant the downforce could work more effectively more often, while the engine has been tuned to suit the overall package, so it's not at its very maximum. It's developed to complement the car, to make it more rounded. We're not here to simply chase numbers."

As a builder of just five cars per year, it takes more than just a happy customer base to get the message out there; Bannister says expansion into the US is next on the cards, but the company is to remain quintessentially Danish in its operation, retaining lab-like cleanliness within its white-walled, Zealand HQ, where carbonfibre is made "right next to beautiful Danish wood" decor.

Frankly that's good to hear. Zenvo's recognition of its roots is no less encouraging than Koenigsegg's Swedish sangfroid or Rimac's Croatian pluck. The low volume car industry could use the diversity, and the outsider attitude. If Zenvo manages to combine its novel thinking with a newfound interest in properly shouting about it, the adolescent supercar maker might be right on the cusp of bigger, better things. Here's hoping.

Read the PH Review of the Zenvo TSR-S here