Hennessey Special Vehicles Prepares to Set 300-MPH World Record
The Venom F5 will be driven by Pikes Peak record holder David Donohue...
Hennessey Special Vehicles has set out plans for its 1,817-bhp Venom F5 to exceed 300 mph in 2024.
The announcement was timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the company’s Venom GT becoming the world’s fastest car in February 2014.
It’s been a decade since the Hennessey Venom GT achieved a verified world record 270.49-mph top speed to become the fastest production car ever. To this day, the Venom GT remains the world’s fastest manual transmission car.
The feat saw Hennessey exceed the previous record of 268.86 mph held by the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.
Now, having delivered 22 customer Venom F5 hypercars, and expanded its engineering team, the company is set to push toward the V-max of “America’s Hypercar,” according to the announcement.
In development, the Venom F5 achieved more than 270 mph at the former NASA Shuttle Landing Facility at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Now, the search is on for a runway or public road with a sufficiently long strait to allow the 1,817-bhp twin-turbo V-8 to accelerate beyond 300 mph and return to zero safely.
“I love that Koenigsegg is gearing up for big speed; I hope that Bugatti joins the party, too – it’s rivalries like this that fuel our passion, and drive us to go faster, innovate more and push harder. With 22 customer cars delivered and a newly expanded engineering team, we’re well placed to refocus our attention on enabling the Venom F5 to deliver on its potential,” said John Hennessey, founder and CEO.
“Our hypercar has a simulated theoretical top speed of 328 mph, but we’re certainly not chasing that number. Breaking 300 mph in two directions is this year’s goal, while hitting 500km/h (310.8 mph) in one direction would be the ultimate way of celebrating the internal combustion engine,” Hennessey continued.
The renewed push to become the world’s fastest hypercar follows Hennessey’s recent recruitment of former AMG ONE Chief Engineer Brian Jones and the 2023 Pikes Peak record-setting racing driver David Donohue.
The pair will work with the Hennessey team to demonstrate what is possible when combining the Venom F5’s bespoke, carbon chassis with its Fury engine.
“I consider the Venom F5 a perfect demonstration of ‘peak combustion’ – it blends 1,817 bhp of twin-turbocharged V-8 power with just 2,998 pounds of mass to deliver extreme acceleration capabilities,” said Jones, named VP of engineering. “We have the power to achieve our goal, so our team will work to optimize power delivery and aerodynamics as we push for top speed.”
American racing champion Donohue will conduct high-speed testing and record runs having joined Hennessey in 2023 as its hypercar test driver. The 2023 Pikes Peak record-setter brought more than three decades of racing experience to Hennessey, including first-place wins at 24 Hours of Le Mans, the North American Touring Car Championship and the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
