Hennessey’s Venom F5 hypercar unveiled

The Bugatti Veyron was an industry-defining hypercar that allowed one to do outrageous speeds while enveloped in luxurious comfort. It took the record for the fastest ever production car with the Super Sport version clocking an average top speed of 427.6kph. But nipping on the heels of the French manufacturer (owned by VW) has been a small American car maker by the name of Hennessey Performance.

They have publicly contested the record claim on two grounds. One being that the factory-spec Bugatti Veyron Super Sport is limited to 415.2kph. The second being that THEIR car, the Venom GT, was faster and clocked a top speed of 435.3kph in a single-run direction. The Venom GT was also a bit too exclusive, too few units were made for it to be acknowledged as production model according to record guidelines.

Bugatti are yet to do a speed record attempt with the new Chiron, limited to 420kph for now, so the Veyron still holds the title, though the manufacturer did lay claim for the fastest 0-400-0 (kph) time with the Chiron, a mere 41.96 seconds. While Koenigsegg has done its own tests with an Agera RS to claim a time of a mind-bending 36.44 seconds, yet to be officially acknowledged.

But this is where Hennessey Performance has left them all behind. The mad performance tuners have set their sights on something much more ridiculous. They’re looking to pass the 300mph mark (483kph) and have been building something that could well achieve this target. Meet the all-new, bespoke American hypercar, the Hennessey Venom F5.

Unveiled at the 2017 SEMA Show in Las Vegas in gorgeous yellow, the F5 is a brand new car, built from scratch. No Lotus bits in this one like the Venom GT, no siree. It has a lightweight chassis and an all carbon fibre body beautifully sculpted to reduce drag as much as possible without lifting off. The heart of this beast is a twin-turbo V8 tuned to deliver over 1600bhp, mated to a 7-speed single clutch transmission to put that power down through the rear wheels. Yikes!

In an age of electrification and hybridisation, it’s amazing to see these internal combustion powered, pure and yet ludicrous cars to be breaking the surface and still making a mark in automotive history.

You can have one of the 24 units planned for about 1.6 million USD plus extras. The F5 is a group effort, Hennessey Performance having co-developed it with Shell and Pennzoil. This new 300mph chasing hypercar is the result of sheer focus, with one and only one goal in mind: ‘To be the absolute fastest road car on earth.’

Much remains yet to be seen of this bad boy: the cabin, how one gets in it, how it looks on the road,  hear it roar through that magnificent triple exhaust, so don’t forget to subscribe for updates and more loony auto stories. Take a closer look at the Venom F5 in the gallery below:

Photography: Manufacturer