Denmark’s halo – ST1 Zenvo

Denmark – a remarkably unremarkable country, apart from producing perhaps the greatest goalkeeper in the history of football and mass cheese exports. That’s all about to change with the Zenvo ST1 – the first Danish supercar.

By Kyle Kock

A local publication in Denmark recently posted a video of their short test of the Zenvo ST1 on the web – so we know that the car is actually running, albeit in prototype form.

The Zenvo designers have actually outdone themselves to ensure the ST1 makes the sort of visual impact you’d expect from a car with this kind of performance credentials – which I’ll get to in a minute.

As the Zenvo ST1 uses a light steel frame structure and carbon fibre body panels, its no surprise that it only just tips the scales at 1 376 kg. The front end is dominated by a hexagonal grille not unlike that first employed on the Iroc concept a few years back, as well as xenon headlamps set in menacing black surrounds.

The Zenvo ST1 rides on 19-inch wheels up front (255/35 19 tyres) and 20-inch pieces at the rear (335/30 20 tyres), and measures 4 665 mm long, 2 041 mm wide and 1 198 mm high – with a wheelbase of 3 055 mm.

Mounted in the rear is a 7,0-litre turbocharged and supercharged V8 engine that produces a horizon-reducing 820 kW and 1 430 Nm of torque at 4 500 r/min. Mated with a six-speed manual gearbox, Zenvo claims the ST1 sprints to 100 km/h in just three seconds and is electronically limited to a 375 km/h top speed.

Engineers had to make sure that the car behaved within reason, so a hydraulic limited-slip differential was fitted, with traction control thrown in for good measure. The ST1’s progress is hampered by 380 mm brake discs at the front and 355 mm units on the rear axle – retarded all-round by six-piston calipers.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Zenvo ST1 would have an incredibly spartan interior, but it actually features dual zone-climate control, electrically-adjustable racing seats, a combination of leather and Alcantara upholstery, navigation system and a head-up display with G-force meter.

We don’t know how much it costs yet, but what we do know is that if you throw in a bit more cash, options like carbon wheels, custom paintjob, a rollcage and 394 mm ceramic brake discs with eight-piston calipers can be readily fitted.