Hennessey Special Vehicles, the Texas-based hypercar manufacturer, has set out plans for its 1,817bhp Venom F5 to exceed 300mph 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.
2024 marks the tenth anniversary of the Hennessey Venom GT achieving a verified world record 270.49mph top speed to become the fastest production car ever. To this day, the Venom GT remains the world’s fastest manual transmission car. The giant-slaying feat saw Hennessey exceed the previous record of 268.86mph 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 towards the V-max of ‘America’s Hypercar’. In development, the Venom F5 achieved more than 270mph 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 1,817bhp twin-turbo V8 monster to accelerate beyond 300mph and return to zero safely.
John Hennessey, company founder and CEO: “I love that Koenigsegg is gearing up for high 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.
“Our hypercar has a simulated theoretical top speed of 328mph, but we’re certainly not chasing that number. Breaking 300mph in two directions is this year’s goal; hitting 500km/h (310.8mph) in one direction would be the ultimate way to celebrate the internal combustion engine!”
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, ultra-lightweight carbon chassis with its 1,187bhp twin-turbocharged V8 ‘Fury’ engine.
Brian Jones, Hennessey VP of Engineering: “I consider the Venom F5 a perfect demonstration of ‘peak combustion’ – it blends 1,817bhp of twin-turbocharged V8 power with just 2,998lbs (1,360kg) of mass to deliver extreme acceleration capabilities. We know we have the power to achieve our goals, so our team will work to optimize power delivery and aerodynamics as we push for top speed.”
American racing champion David Donohue will conduct all 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.
