Records are made to be broken and speed merchant Hennessey Special Vehicles is looking to do just that with its newly, ahem, launched Venom F5.
This is Texas-based Hennessey’s second iteration of the vehicle, which competes with other supercars like the Bugatti Chiron SuperSport, and the company plans to produce just 24 of them at a cost of $2.1 million each.
“Our customers love speed, so we’re fired-up to push the boundaries of what’s possible to attempt the world’s fastest production car record, but the Venom F5 is about more than just speed and power,” the company noted in a release. “This car will handle superbly, quality is exceptional, there are more than 3,000 bespoke parts, materials are exquisite, everything is a fitting tribute to 30 years of the Hennessey brand.”
(Hennessey offers 805-hp Venom package for 2021 F-150.)
The Hennessey folks are looking to exceed a 311 mph average after two runs on the landing strip at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida early next year. The new Venom clearly has the look of a vehicle capable of that kind of speed, and the powerplant only supports the notion.
The Venom F5 is powered by a twin-turbocharged 6.6-liter V-8 engine, which the company developed and built in-house. Hennessey designed and built completely in-house. It produces 1,817 horsepower funneled through a 7-speed transmission.
That results in a 0 to 60 mph time of a smidge under 2.6 seconds. It puts power to the ground as a rear-wheel-drive model rather than all-wheel drive, which is a more typical configuration for hypercars, especially those looking to set new records.
This power, 277 hp/liter, in a car that weighs just 2,998 pounds generates a power-to-weight ratio of 1,298 hp/ton – the highest of any road car, the company noted. The weight is achievable due to its carbon-fiber monocoque and other lightweighting methods, i.e. carbon fiber everywhere.
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While it’s built with speed as its selling point, Hennessey plans to sell 24 of these vehicles so come creature comforts will be built into the two-seater, such as air conditioning, a 9-inch Alpine touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto available and Bluetooth capability.
However, the new Venom isn’t just the legendary automotive custom builder’s latest offering with a big price tag. The company plans on regaining the title of world’s fastest production car. That title is currently held by SSC’s Tuatara hypercar, which posted an average speed of 316.11 mph in October. Or maybe it’s not. There is some controversy surrounding the verification of the new leader’s record run, but for now it’s still the official record holder.
Since there is some issue surrounding the current benchmark, Hennessey officials laid out their plans to make sure there is no uncertainty surrounding their efforts.
The record attempt will be independently verified by the world-renowned experts from Racelogic using VBOX GPS data acquisition systems. Racelogic / VBOX engineers will be on site to install, test and calibrate the speed testing equipment in the F5 to ensure absolute accuracy and transparency.
(Ready! Set! Record! Hennessey wants speed title for Venom F5.)
In addition, VBOX engineers will verify all test data and final speed numbers. The speed test will be attended by independent witnesses, media guests and F5 customers. GPS data and uninterrupted video footage will also be made publicly available following the speed test.
