Autosport International is Europe’s largest indoor pre-season motorsport event and this year was a big one for the show as it celebrated its 25th Anniversary at the NEC in Birmingham.
The show offers an extremely diverse range of performance cars catering for every type of motor enthusiast.
From classics through to Supercars, even the smaller bespoke car manufacturers are given the chance to make a name for themselves.
In 2015 Autosport seen the unveiling of several new and exciting performance cars from Britain and further afield.

Performance car makers Ariel – makers of the Atom – recently revealed a new ATV, their new Ariel Nomad seen its first public outing at Autosport 2015. The light weight all-terrain vehicle is powered by a 2.4-litre four-cylinder VTEC engine and is tuned to produce 235bhp. It will sprint from 0-60mph in 3.4 seconds, has a top speed of 136mph and will set you back £30,000 – winch included.

You may also remember my article last week about my test drive of Zenos Cars first sports car the E10, which was unveiled at last year’s Autosport Show.
For 2015, Zenos has revealed their new turbocharged model in the form of the E10 S.
It’s powered by a mid-mounted 2.0-litre Ford EcoBoost engine producing 250bhp, has a 0-60mph time of less than 4.5sec and a top speed of 135mph – prices start at £29,995.

Noble unveiled an open-top version of its M600 supercar, dubbed the Speedster. The M600 Speedster prototype has seen the company leave their love of the traditional manual gearbox behind, as the new Speedster has now adopted a six-speed semi-automatic transmission (though it is a prototype).

Track car specialist Radical unveiled their latest performance car at ASI15 – the RXC Spyder. According to them it’s the “most advanced, powerful, and aerodynamically-developed” open racing car yet.
Powered by a high-revving 3.0-litre naturally aspirated V8 producing 440bhp, the RXC Spyder doesn’t come cheap at £131,940. Radical are now taking orders and deliveries are expected from early this year.

Autosport International also hosted the unveiling of the first Lister Jaguar ‘Knobbly’ reincarnation.
The reborn ‘Knobbly’ is built to the very same specification as the original 1958 ‘Knobbly’, using the late Brian Lister’s original drawings and manufacturing jigs.  It is powered by a race-prepared Jaguar D-Type 3.8-litre straight-six, producing 330bhp.
It will reach 0-60mph in just 4.3 seconds and has a max speed of 181mph. Priced at £295,000; the Cambridge built ‘Knobbly’ is also eligible to compete in all historic racing events worldwide.

British car manufacturer Keating Supercars also unveiled their latest model, which they hope to shatter the current world speed record with.
The Keating TKR has an estimated top speed of 335mph – that’s 0.5 Mach if you were wondering!

In addition to the unveilings at the NEC, there were motoring celebs to meet, activities to take part in and numerous live performance shows to watch.

One of the live performances even resulted in a new world record, featuring Alistair Moffatt – a master instructor at Stunt Drive UK.
He took back the parking world record from Chinese stunt driver Han Yue, who managed to squeeze a Mini into a gap that was only 8cm longer than the car. Moffatt beat the record by managing to slide a Fiat 500 into a space just 7.5 centimetres longer than his car.

Other attractions included the Autocar display, live automotive art with Popbangcolour, the Renaultsport RS.01. and the Formula 1 grid.

Our full gallery of pics from Autosport International 2015 can be found on our Flickr.

If you haven’t heard of Zenos yet it’s because the company is relatively new to the car world – having only unveiled their first model – the E10 – at the Autosport International show in 2014.
Their aim is to build affordable, road legal track cars and although the company is in its infancy, its owners have firm roots in the car and motorsport industry.

Zenos
Zenos was started by Ansar Ali and Mark Edwards, previously CEO and COO of Caterham Cars – so I think it’s safe to say they have a fair idea what they’re doing! Unlike many small start-ups who design a car and then fall by the way side, Zenos have a clear idea of what it is they want to achieve and how they are going to go about it.

The E10 is the first of four models they have scheduled for release over the next few years – which is extremely ambitious for a start-up. However, so far they have achieved what they set out to do, with their second model the E10S being launched at the 2015 Autosport International Show – precisely one year after the unveiling of the E10.

Tech/Spec
In December I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to test drive a prototype of Zenos’ first model (the E10) at Silverstone.
The first thing to note about the car is that it is extremely light weight – barely registering on the scales at around 700kg – all thanks to its hybrid monocoque chassis, which is encased in light weight body panels made from recycled carbon fibre.

Propelling the light weight sports car is a mid-mounted normally aspirated 2-litre, 16 valve 4 cylinder unit made by Ford, which produces 200bhp and 210 NM of torque – giving it an estimated 0-60mph time of just 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 135mph.

A transversely mounted 5 speed gearbox helps deliver the power and in terms of handling, the car comes equipped with a double wishbone suspension setup with Bilstein dampers.

Price
So how much will all of this set you back? Prices for the E10 start at £24,995 and thanks to the Ford components throughout the car, servicing or replacing parts has been made easier and more cost effective for customers.

So how does all of this translate into real world driving?
I took the E10 for a drive on a mixture of A and B roads and the 2-litre engine provided more than enough power for an enjoyable drive. I found the handling wasn’t overly firm on the country roads yet very capable on the track – this was a conscious choice made by Zenos as they want customers to enjoy the car on both the track and road – which wouldn’t be possible with an overly firm set-up.
After a short time behind the wheel of the car I found the handling to be very predictable and I say that in the best possible way.

While an unpredictable sports car can be exciting to drive it can also mean you find your limit rather quickly, whereas with the E10 the more I drove it the more I wanted to push it on – it inspired confidence in my driving.

I liked the simplistic driver focused interior in the car, the seating position is low and it’s surprisingly comfortable and spacious in the cabin. The controls have been carefully placed around the driver and the electronic dials on the dash were clear and concise, giving me all the information I could need or want.

Although the prototype version I drove had a stripped back interior, Zenos assured me that the finish in customer cars is to an extremely high standard.
They will happily meet a customer’s needs in terms of customising interior/exterior finishes or colours and there is no end to the optional extras that can be added to the cars.

Overall verdict
My overall impression of the car was a good one, the E10 does exactly what it was designed to do which is to offer an exciting driving experience for a reasonable amount of money. It’s quick, light weight and could easily contend with the other cars that were zooming around Silverstone on the day of my test drive.

One thing I wasn’t overly keen on when driving the E10 was the lack of a windshield – it was a cold day in December when I drove the car so a warm coat, hat and gloves were essential (and even then I was still pretty chilly).

Obviously there will be customers who will prefer the thrill of driving a car without a windscreen, though for those like myself who prefer a bit of protection from the elements, Zenos have provided a solution in the form of a windscreen which will be present on the new production ready E10S.
The design team also informed me that a rain cover would be available for customers who opt for a windscreen, meaning they can remain dry if the weather decides to take a turn for the worst.

So far, things seem to be going well for Zenos, they have delivered on everything they said they would and customers are now placing orders and putting down deposits as a result of this.

The E10 is an exciting and affordable addition to this sector of the sports car market and I look forward to seeing their future projects in the form of the E11 and E12.