Zenos E10 revived – Caterham-rival gets more power and a £140k price tag
British sports car enjoys a boost to 380bhp and 500bhp/ton among a round of revisions a decade after launch, and a hefty new price to go with it
Zenos is whetting our appetites for next year’s track day season by announcing a reengineered version of the E10, called the E10 RZ. Entering production in early 2026, the outwardly similar-looking car has more significant revisions under the skin. Central to the updates is a new 2-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine with an output of 380bhp.
That's up from 250bhp a decade ago when evo first tested the E10S, and a step over the old 350bhp E10 R – and 510Nm of torque. Construction is as before, with a central aluminium spine, over which a carbonfibre tub is draped, but Zenos has taken care to centralise mass, noting that most of the car’s weight, including the engine and six-speed manual gearbox, are between the axles.
Track has increased too for greater stability, and once again the E10 RZ uses inboard pushrod-mounted dampers at the front, and coil-over suspension at the rear, mounted to the subframe that holds the engine and gearbox. A limited-slip differential will be standard – probably wise, given the power increase.
The body now uses carbonfibre panels (in a selection of finishes, including a visible weave). The claimed 790kg kerb weight is a little heavier than the 725kg of old, but with such a bump up in power, the E10 RZ is now a 500bhp/ton car, and one capable of 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds and 150mph flat out.
Meanwhile the combination of 16-inch wheels up front and 17 inches at the rear shows the benefit of a small and light platform like this – when you finally burn through a set of tyres on track, the 195/50 R16 and 225/45 R17 rubber shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg to replace.
The original E10’s styling has aged well over the past decade so wisely, Zenos has left it mostly alone, but to keep pace with developments in lighting tech, the E10 RZ will get new front and rear light clusters. Driver information tech has also come on a bit so the interior displays will be new by the time the production car arrives (as you’ll note, the images here depict a prototype, so a few details might change), and there’s a healthy smattering of carbonfibre inside too, including the bespoke bucket seats.
As for the not-so-small matter of price, there’s been a bit of inflation over the past decade. That’s not unusual given the need for small sports car companies to actually make money, but when the original E10 S arrived at £29,995 and the E10 R a year later at £39,995, the quoted £140,000 on-the-road for the E10 RZ is still a bit of a surprise.
There will be a more affordable 2.3-litre, 325bhp, R2 model coming along in mid-2026, but it’s all relative; the R2 will still cost £120,000 on the road. The British sports car is alive and well, but perhaps not as accessible as it used to be.
