randychase

They could probably pick up a complete team right now rather on the cheap.

The place I used in San Diego... well... if it had not been an SV there was no way the guy was getting in. And he insisted on getting to test brakes. He also tried to fail the car based on the lack of side markers, but when I told him it was registering as a 1965 car, he said it was fine. That markers were required as of 1974, but that replica cars from before 1974 would not need them.

OOOPs. Those pics are life size apparently

Cool cars. We saw some this one at Autosport in UK this year.

Pretty much. Certainly some comparisons to Ariel Atom, BAC Mono, KTM X-Bow, and the 2-Eleven. It certainly overlaps some with a Seven in regards to purpose. But not as much in regards to the fact that a Seven is really its own niche. Not many people cross shop a KTM-X-Bow and Seven, though it is possible. I think the nice thing for me... is that on pricing, it comes out very favorably when compared to those cars. An argument can be made that the BAC Mono is a different market as it is single seater (and far more expensive). And the Ariel Atom is also an exo-skeleton car with more exposure... which some want and some do not want. And the X-Bow is far more expensive and not being exported to the USA market. So in the end, you have a niche vehicle that will appeal to a niche market. And that is all it needs to be successful. We will see the Zenos E11 and E12 more properly comparing to the Elise/Exige. But it is still a specialty built car so that means the market that wants a federal car with airbags, will not cross shop the Zenos compared to the Elise/Exige, here in USA.

We are going to be located in San Diego and also Tennessee where I am. And a couple of special dealers, which will be announced soon. The timeline is: January 2014. Concept show car unveiled at AutoSport UK. Late spring 2014. First evaluation prototype built. August 2014. Evaluation Prototype 2 with Ecoboost built. Both cars are out on track with customers doing test drives. These are what are being driven now (white clad bodies) and are mules for development and testing also. Fall 2014. Cars start building. Starting with 4 demo cars. November 2014. Concept show car being flown to USA for use by Zenos Cars USA. December 2014. Concept car will be at PRI in Indianapolis (we hope!). January 2015. "Unveiling" of the car at North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. I think it runs January 7-24 or something like that. End of January 2015. Demo car for USA market in build. February. Demo car on way to Southern California. Drivetrain to be installed. Customer car builds start in March. Right now we are planning on one car each month. That may increase. We will plan on getting a demo car to Tennessee and to the dealerships also.

Suggested reading: http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=31013

I think most any time, if you price a UK built car and compare the pricing in the UK vs the USA, you are going to find that the USA price is higher, and with certain companies, the price is LOT higher. The exception is a company allowing a loss leader to gain market. But consider that the Zenos was not coming over to USA. We were not part of the business plan.

Actually a roller here is slightly less than that if you are comparing the like cars. If you are including the drivetrain, then we are about $5-6K more. But..then add in the costs for crating, shipping, and customs. As Jon from Denver told me, expect to spend about $6K per car. Maybe I can do better than that, but he had a lot of experience in this area. The cars in the UK do not include those costs that I have to account for.

Should be ~40/60 front/rear, pretty similar to a Lotus Elise.

Kind of like building a Caterham, the answer will have a pretty wide range. You certainly do not need uprated brakes for example, but they are an option, as well as dry sump, adjustable dampers, uprated springs, etc etc etc. When I was selling Caterhams, I used to tell people that options fell into 4 categories. 1. You really want this. Seriously. Trust me. Two examples being side sill protection and rear wing protection. 2. You may or may not want this, that is up to you. But if you do, order it with the car. Examples include rollcage, harnesses, upgraded roll bar, fire extinguisher, battery cut off, LSD, heater, spare tire. 3. You may or may not want this, and you can order it later if you decide that it made sense to have it. Weather top, tonneau cover, carpet, deflectors. 4. I really can't understand why anyone wants this. With the Zenos, we are still sorting out how things fall into the categories. We took a hard look at the option list for our demo car that is going into build and concluded we thought we should get the windscreen (if it is ready by then). Having said that, if I was ordering a car, one could always add the windscreen later as it is a simple bolt on, so it really falls into category 3. But there is the shipping logistics which pushes it back to category 2. We also decided to get the battery cut off. As to install it later would probably be a pain. The rest, I declined. Consider of course that the demo car is not a purposed track car, so no need for the track options. This is for street. I have yet to see what the differences are in some of the options (such as exhaust, dampers) so not sure it makes sense. And again, I figured some of these I could swap later. So not including engine and gearbox, we are around $42K. We are working out the source and costs for the engine and gearbox, but I know you can buy used refurb engines for under $1000 (all the Caterhams we built were done with used low mile engines, positive being already broken in). And gearboxes for $2K. If you elect a new FoMoCo crate engine, I expect it maybe about $3.5-4K? Not sure. Just a wild guess, but installs should not be a large labor component as one is not building the car. So having said all that... I think people will be spending around $43-48K, not including domestic freight and taxes. Heater and Zenon lighting have been dropped from the options. In the place of heater are heated seats. The lights were dropped because they are not cheap and yet out of 50+ orders, not one has requested upgraded lights. Perhaps a statement that is less a night time cruiser. I think the heater change was because of the added complexity for this pure of a car, for plumbing, fan, duct work. Easier to offer a plug in seat option.

Steve Sutcliffe wrote the article that accompanies that video in the original post. http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/zenos-e10-driven-lotus-beater Then he wrote this blog which rings very true for me also: http://www.autocar.co.uk/blogs/new-cars/zenos-cars-place-where-customer-king

Justin, Joe will be taking delivery of a car around February, so it will be in San Diego. That car is scheduled for build in January and Joe is flying to become familiar with the mechanicals of the car. It should be on the road soon after for a test drive.

Once you see it in person, it is even more amazing. We had a long talk with Ansar in UK this last January and the thing that struck me the most, was he had the perfect reply for every question. They designed this car as I would have designed it. Better torsional rigidity than a Lotus Elise. Designed for quick and cheap replacement for small offs (19 separate body panels that all bolt on). Designed also that a small off will not cause expensive damage with suspension pick up points moved inward and front dampers in board. And most importantly, was the questions I had for him about company and finances and business plans. No smoke and mirrors. Very sensible. Well funded. Not just a bloke in a shed in UK with a car idea! Plus, the guys running this company... are really refreshing open and candid. They bring their experience from Lotus and Caterham, to take it to the next level. As to your question. The occupant is protected first by a steel crash structure with steel side beams, as well as the recycled carbon fiber thermoplastic tub. The tub uses a pretty interesting technology that was developed by one the partners of Zenos to meet the rigidity and safety specifications, but at a reasonable cost. Using sheets of recycled carbon fiber (from companies such as McLaren), the sheets are the bread in a sandwich that is made from an interior that is a honeycomb of recycled drinking straws. This creates a structure more akin to a surfboard, and when formed in the shape of a tub, becomes very strong. There is a track cage option also. I have not seen it yet. But it is listed with the track options.

We will have a car here very shortly.

Exactly. The extra mass seemed to help and I never was bothered by vibration. I had worse vibration in my Elise side mirrors.

I struggled with the best way to do this as when I took off the doors, the mirrors were also removed. And most permanent mirror mounts would interfere with the door opening. I like Bruce's idea, which solved the problem in a similar fashion as to what I did. I used the factory wind deflectors which are like $60-80? a pair. Mounted a pair of S.P.A Carbon Fiber mirrors to them. If I ran the doors, I took off the deflectors of course. The positive is I like the deflectors for the small amount of wind deflection they offered, plus I now had mirrors. I am sure you could mount almost any mirror to the deflectors. I like the carbon fiber look and I think the smaller GT style racing mirrors are a better fit for style and proportion. And my opinion, that this mounting method also looks less bulky. http://www.britishspeed.com/gallery3/var/resizes/Caterham-Build-SV-S3-170/033.JPG?m=1329535000 http://www.britishspeed.com/gallery3/var/resizes/Caterham-Build-SV-S3-170/034.JPG?m=1329535002

I attended the LOG in Birmingham a few years back with my Rossion. The West Coast Lotus Meet in my Noble. Yeah... we were one of the "other" cars, but it was all fun. We intend on arriving with a Zenos at LOG 35. Planning an EPIC road trip now that has 11 people already signed up for. We are driving from points southeast (Atlanta, Chattanooga, Birmingham) and from points Southwest (San Diego, Los Angeles) to Colorado. Should be a fun trip.

Those look great!

We repaired a rear ended seven much much much worse than that. Is the gas tank okay? Check shock attachments and make sure shocks are straight. Check the suspension bits, specially the A Frame part.

+1 to Slomove's answer. There are very comparable roads in many locations in California. Many were my local roads in San Diego county. But also around Lake Tahoe and the central coast. When it is not too crowded, where TOTD excels is the camber changes or swoopiness, and the fact it is beautiful country. It is not just the driving... it the stopping at the dam, at the tree of shame, at the overlook. Surrounded by green trees and plenty of water. To me, the comparable road is California is Big Sur Highway 1. Not because of the number of turns... but because of the epic scenery.

I used to make a point to get to Tail of the Dragon when I was living in San Diego. Took the Elise there, the Noble, the Rossion Q1. This is some snips from 2008 in the Noble. The problem is that it has become such a destination, that it gets too much attention and too much traffic. You can hit it right... I came with the Rossion in 2010 I think.. came just at dusk. Ran the entire thing and never saw another vehicle. It was glorious. But most times I get stuck behind a cruiser bike and have to wait. You do TOTD because it is EPIC. But then drive the other local roads to really experience driving. Now I live within 90 minutes and have yet to get out there! As soon as I get the Zenos, I am heading to Deal's Gap.

Those are build numbers, not the VINs. I also do not know why they would be something to be concerned about other's knowing.

Yes, poorly worded. My intent was to show it was not the importer or Caterham that made the error, but the crating company.

Looks like it is all being sorted out. Red car is enroute to New Jersey and Jon is arranging a shipping swap. Should only be a small delay to the build. Whew....