Have you seen that wing?!
I may be wrong, but I doubt that a not-inconsiderable number of people out there today with obscene amounts of money are of the opinion that the current crop of supercars and hypercars are, for lack of a better word, dull. Pick your garden-variety Ferrari, even the baby Portofino, and we’ll tell you that it’s not only pretty to look at, but quite a laugh to drive.
However, Danish company Zenvo reckons there isn’t enough vim and vigour in this segment. And so it’s taken one of its ST-1’s and got to fettling, and has brought to the Geneva motor show this shrinking violet, the TSR-S. Where the ST-1 was orange, the TSR-S is red. The ST-1 was actually a rather handsome looking thing, whereas the TSR-S is… brutal.
Oh, and have you seen the wing?
Under the carbon-fibre and latticework panel in the middle, you’ll find a heavily reworked version of the ST-1’s V8. Still measuring in at 5.8-litres, the V8 now puts out a whopping 877kW from a heady 8500rpm. But if you don’t feel like an absolute lunatic, a dial in the cockpit will allow you to have a far more manageable 522kW.
Connected to that monstrous yet thoughtful V8 (the ability to ask for less power cannot be considered as anything less than thoughtful) is, evidently, ‘two gearboxes in one.’ What they actually mean is that the gearbox has two modes. One puts the seven-speed transmission in a good mood, making it shift smoothly and comfortably, and the other makes it one of the fastest, most brutal transmissions currently available on a road car (they claim).
As such, the TSR-S claims a century sprint time of 2.8-seconds, and hit 200km/h in just 6.8-seconds, before hitting its top-speed of 325km/h. Ensuring it doesn’t take off is that dining table of a rear wing which Zenvo refer to as the ‘Centripetal Wing.’ Sitting on two hinges, it has three modes: ‘Airbrake,’ where it acts as an airbrake, ‘high speed’ where it lies flat to reduce drag, and ‘supermassivedownforce’ where it tilts on the opposing axis to force the rear tyres into the road when cornering.
Oh, and apparently it also acts as an additional anti-roll bar. We’re not going to test that out. Aiding the downforce initiative are little winglets and creases and canards that all come together to give the TSR-S enough downforce to promise ludicrous cornering speeds, which is further aided by the lack of weight in the cabin. Air-conditioning, satellite navigation, airbags… that’s al optional.
Only 5 Zenvo TSR-S’ will be made annually, with no official price tag (likely because potential customers won’t bother asking).
Stay tuned to CarShowroom as we bring you more updates as they come.
