Hennessey is looking to take another swing at the fastest production car on the planet with its upcoming Venom F5. The vehicle has been in development for quite some time now, and with the technical process recently completed, it has had its top speed checked three times already.
Mind you, these were not top speed runs per se, according to the company’s founder, John Hennessey, who revealed that most of the testing took place at the Pennzoil Proving Grounds, and the high-speed testing was conducted at the Johnny Bohmer Proving Grounds, in Florida.
The three-mile (4.8-km) long runway was last used by the Venom F5 last month. Embedded at the bottom of the page, the video shows the hypercar break the 270-mph (434.5-kph) barrier, by achieving 271.6 mph (437 kph). As a result, it is already faster than its predecessor, the Venom GT, which was clocked at 270.4 mph (435.2 kph) some eight years ago.
Nonetheless, the goal is to hit 311 mph (500 kph) or more, which would make it faster than the Bugatti Chiron prototype that did 304.773 mph (490.484 kph) in 2019. The Lone Star State company is confident that the Venom F5 has the advantage on its side, as they will settle for nothing other than building “the absolute fastest road car on Earth.”
With a power-to-weight ratio at 1.34 hp per kg (2.2 lbs), the Hennessey Venom F5 tips the scales at 2,998 lbs (1,360 kg), so it’s a lightweight contender for the crown. Moreover, it stays true to the rear-wheel drive recipe and has a whopping 1,817 hp at 8,000 rpm on tap, produced by the twin-turbocharged 6.6-liter V8 engine that’s mounted in the middle of the car. It has a targeted 0-62 mph (0-100 kph) in under 3 seconds and a 0-124 mph (0-200 kph) sprint that should take less than 5 seconds.
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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