There’s no stopping John Hennessey and the company the bears his name from shattering one speed record after the other with their Lotus Elise-based, but evidently, hugely modified, Venom GT.
After being established as the world’s fastest production car from zero to 300km/h (186.45 mph) by the Guinness World Records (GWR) with an average time of 13.63 seconds in January this year, the Venom GT now holds the record for the world’s fastest production vehicle available for public purchase.
It all went down on February 9, 2013, at the at the United States Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore in Central California, where a Venom GT rolling on Michelin Pilot Super Sport DOT-approved radial tires accelerated to 265.7 mph (427.6 km/h) during testing.
“While a Veyron Super Sport did run 267.8 mph, Bugatti speed-limits its production vehicles to 258 mph,” said John Hennessey. “Thus, at 265.7 mph the Venom GT is the fastest production car available to the public.”
Priced at a hefty $1.2 million or about €940,000 at the current exchange rates with only 29 cars to be made, Hennessey’s Venom GT is propelled by a GM-sourced 7.0-liter (427 cubic inch) LS9 V8 fed by twin turbochargers delivering 1,244 horsepower and 1,155 lb-ft of torque at 19 psi (1.3 bar) of boost pressure. All those crazy horses have only 1,244 kg (2,743 lbs) of mass to move around.
Hop over the break to see how the GT managed to break the speed record.
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