Any convertible can give you a hairstyle, but for its 25th anniversary, Hennessey Performance decided to pull a stunt that could probably see their Venom GT Spyder giving its driver a haircut.
As teased late last week, the once-a-Lotus broke the open-top speed record, putting its 1,451 hp to good use. The shenanigan took place on March 25, 2016, at California's Naval Air Station Lemoore, with the contraption hitting 265.6 mph.
The velocity was confirmed by Jim Lay, technical director at independent speed-testing company Racelogic while it was also witnessed by U.S. Navy Commander Darren Fouts - given the military man's rank, Air Operations Officer, it seems only normal for the Texan developer to have chosen somebody familiar with multiple-digit speeds.
The Venom GT was manhandled (the track wasn't exactly silky smooth) by Brian Smith, crushing the record that had been set by the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse back in 2013.
The Lone Star State company released the current incarnation of the Venom GT at last year's SEMA show, with the tweaked Elise chassis accommodating a twin-turbo 7.0-liter V8 massaged all the way to 1,451 hp. Tipping the scales at just 2,743 lbs, this beast is a sucker for challenges such as the one described here.
Sure, the open-top trophy is sweet, but we don't see why Hennessey has forgotten about the 267.8 mph land speed record, which hasn't been beaten since the Veyron Super Sport hit 270.49 mph back in 2010.
However, while Bugatti's Chiron now favors velocity usability instead of top speed, we're pretty sure Hennessey's next hypercar, the F5, won't resist the temptation to go for that record.
The F5, for which Hennessey plans a 290 mph top speed, is briefly teased in the record run video below.
P.S.: All we have to do now is wait for Koenigsegg to realize that the Nurburgring speed limits have been removed.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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