It may look like an ultra-modern sports car but if you look beyond the gleaming carbon fibre, it is car manufacturing of yesteryear which has helped shape the design of Norfolk's newest speed machine.

Eastern Daily Press: The Zenos sports car. CEO and partners, Ansar Ali, left, and Mark Edwards with their Zenos sports car at Wymondham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYThe Zenos sports car. CEO and partners, Ansar Ali, left, and Mark Edwards with their Zenos sports car at Wymondham. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: copyright: Archant 2014)

The history books of how sports car used to be made were reopened as Ansar Ali and Mark Edwards transformed their plans for the newly launched E10 into a reality.

Their aims were to create a lightweight sports car which was fun, affordable and left drivers with a 'grin on their face'.

And with a price-tag of just £24,995, they say the new kid on the sports car block fulfils those ambitions.

It has taken two years for Mr Ali and Mr Edwards, who left their positions at Lotus Cars to set up Zenos Cars in Wymondham, to take their vision from the drawing table to the prototypes at their Wymondham Business Park factory - but they already have 70 orders in place for when they start production in January and are confident they will be able to sell between 150 and 200 of the model next year.

Eastern Daily Press: The Zenos sports car. Chris Weston, head of development drives reporter Kate Scotter in the Zenos sports car. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYThe Zenos sports car. Chris Weston, head of development drives reporter Kate Scotter in the Zenos sports car. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: copyright: Archant 2014)

Mr Ali said: 'We went back to old history books to see how cars were made in the old days, looking at Lotus in particular.

'It is a no frills car, that's not what it's about, it's about driving purity and for £25,000 you can have that driving purity.'

The cost of the car has been driven down by the use of recycled carbon fibre - said to be nearly as strong as new carbon fibre but at 10pc of the cost - and at 650kg, the lightweight machine is said to offer economical benefits.

'We knew the market we wanted to target and started at the £25,000 price point and worked backwards,' said Mr Ali. 'It's been a challenge but it is achievable.'

The E10 is the first of three models the team at Zenos Cars plan to produce over the next five years. The second in line, the E11, will be an equivalent version with doors and a windscreen and the third, the E12, will be a coupe hardtop.

Zenos Cars has been supported by a £240,000 grant from the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership's Growing Business Fund and private sector investment.

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