Zenvo Is Taking The Fight To Top Gear After Its ST1 Supercar Went Up In Flames

Image credit: BBC

The major talking point from last weekend's Top Gear episode was the Zenvo ST1's fiery exit. Jeremy Clarkson managed to break the car twice, before the Stig finally set a lap time.

Zenvo has now released its side of the story, in which it details what went wrong. The first incident involved the clutch burning out. Zenvo claims this is due to the fact that Top Gear's drivers undertook "an hour of extreme drifting."

Once the car was fixed up and returned to Dunsfold for a second day of filming, a faulty intercooler caught fire, for which Zenvo has claimed responsibility. Again, this was "after more than one hour of intensive high speed testing."

Zenvo is naturally trying to put forward reasons for the ST1's failures, but modern supercars are not the fragile objects they once were - established manufacturers are now making high-performance vehicles that are also reliable. Considering its astronomical £660,000 price tag, the fact the ST1 could not stand up to this abuse is unforgivable.

On the other hand, mocking its 1min 29sec lap time was a little unfair. The UK is currently experiencing some of its worst weather in years, with much of the country underwater. Expecting a 1000bhp car to put in any sort of lap time is faintly ridiculous.

To illustrate this fact, Zenvo claims that during filming the crew tested the car's performance (when the weather wasn't Biblically wet). By the end of the straight line section of track, the ST1 hit 189mph, clocking up 0-62mph in an incredible 2.69sec.

Image credit: BBC

Top Gear has courted controversy in this area before, being unsuccessfully sued for libel by Tesla after being accused of faking a scene in which its electric Roadster ran out of juice. But it seems in the case of the ST1, Top Gear was justified in displaying a car's failure. Zenvo can't complain if it wasn't up to the abuse.

On the other hand, perhaps TG should have held back the lap time. True, other cars have completed wet laps, but the fact the ST1 - a car that Top Gear Magazine ran out of superlatives for - lapped slower than an M5 in the wet is indicative of the harsh conditions.

It'll be interesting to see how quickly it'll lap in the dry. If it can survive that long...