Like all proper supercars, Zenvo’s $1.8 million ST1s can catch fire on a warm day, especially if you push them on the track. It’s true that 1,100 horsepower generates some heat, but that’s fine as long as you’re prepared.
To be honest, I didn’t manage to talk to the Zenvo crew at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. They were around with an upgraded ST1 which did some unusually loud bangs on its first run before retiring to the pits for the rest of the weekend. People started talking about a mechanical failure five minutes after they turned off the car, but later on, the guys at Arash told me that some Russian guy bought the car on the spot, and that’s why they packed up so early.
Either way, Zenvo had problems with their heat management before. Unfortunately for them, the ST1’s previous car-b-que went down in Jeremy Clarkson’s front yard.
This time around, it seems like a fuel line snapped during a track event near Copenhagen, and once the flammable fluid hit the exhaust or the glowing turbos under that monstrous V8, there could be no other outcome.
I reached out to Zenvo to see what happened exactly, so stay tuned for an update.
Update:
STATEMENT FROM ZENVO AUTOMOTIVE:
Preliminary inspections point towards a fuel line failure, which unfortunately caused a fire underneath the car.
The car we used particularly for this event, was a development car with our brand new gearbox among the many new features being tested.
However, as the car is a development car, it is important to note that it is different from our current 11 production cars in many ways, and that our production cars undergo a thorough quality and shakedown test before being delivered to customers.
We will perform a full and thorough inspection over the next couple of days to determine the exact cause of this problem.
Hat tip to Road and Track!
Contact the author at mate@jalopnik.com.