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John Hennessey Likes His Tesla Model S Plaid, but He Remains an ICE Evangelist

The man behind Hennessey Performance Engineering made a name for himself by racing a tuned Mitsubishi 3000GT VR-4 in 1991. The following year, John Hennessey got his first media exposure in Car & Driver with a story covering his racing exploits and the 3000GT VR-4 VR200 pack.
John Hennessey Bought A Tesla?? | MODEL S PLAID IMPRESSION 7 photos
Photo: Hennessey on YouTube
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His big breakthrough came in 1993 with the Viper Venom 500 package, and since then, John’s company became a worldwide sensation despite a handful of wrongdoings made public by formers customers and employees. An internal combustion evangelist, Hennessey continues to appreciate internal combustion despite his admiration for the Tesla Model S Plaid.

The white-painted Tesla in the featured clip is a brand-new Model S Plaid that John personally owns, a zero-emission masterpiece that’s excellent in terms of acceleration. Be that as it may, John says that his Porsche 911 Turbo stops and turns better. “That’s the only real negative of the car,” he highlights, “and that’s basically just a derivative of physics. You’ve got 700-plus pounds, primarily from the batteries, that make this a heavy car.”

Hennessey Performance Engineering’s founder also appreciates the precise control of the accelerator pedal in the Model S Plaid. He also likens the Tesla’s torque to a big-block V8 with a 300-hp shot of nitrous, but John isn’t particularly fond of the self-driving technology. Considering how bad of a reputation Autopilot and FSD have, this cautiousness is understandable.

After praising the handling, John says that Tesla’s build quality has gotten progressively better since the first Model S rolled off the line. But in truth, it still leaves much to be desired. Quality control should be improved as well if you remember that Tesla has delivered cars without brake pads.

“If I have to choose to go more than 40-50 miles from home base, I’m taking internal combustion.” As for the most important part of this video, John emphasizes that “EVs will never take the place of what those cars are able to deliver in terms of that overall visceral feel.” What cars? He’s referring to three of his creations: the Venom F5, Exorcist, and Mammoth 1000.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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