Hennessey’s all-new hypercar, the Venom F5, was built with just one goal in mind, to be the fastest road car in the world. With a top speed in excess of 300 mph (482 km/h), all we can say is they’ve done it!
In order to achieve such high speeds, the Hennessey Special Vehicles team had to come up with a brand new design, chassis and carbon fiber body, so as to have the lowest possible drag.
“We expect the Venom F5, named for the most powerful tornado speed winds on the Fujita scale, to be the first road car capable of achieving more than 300 mph and have worked closely with Pennzoil to get us across the finish line,” said company founder and CEO, John Hennessey.
Mated to a 7-speed single clutch paddle shift transmission, the car’s new twin turbo V8 unit will send over 1,600 HP to the rear tires, all while dragging along a curb weight of just 2,950 lbs (1,338 kg). This combo of power, low drag and light weight should take the car from 0 to 186 mph (300 km/h) in less than 10 seconds, making the Venom F5 faster than any current Formula 1 car.
Zero to 249 mph (400 km/h) and back to zero can be achieved in under 30 seconds, whereas the top speed is projected to exceed 300 mph (482 km/h). The price for driving the world’s fast production road car? Upwards of $1.6 million. Also, the automaker is only planning on building 24 examples, which will make the new Venom that much more valuable in the long run.
“Working hand-in-hand with Hennessey on one of the most stunning road cars we’ve seen has been an incredible experience,” says Shell VP of marketing, Patty Lanning. “We share a passion for performance and know that Pennzoil will protect the F5’s engine through development and testing to production.”
Overall, the numbers that the Venom F5 is proposing are simply ludicrous. Its 0-400-0 time of less than 30 seconds not only demolishes the Chiron’s time of 42 seconds, it also makes this car over 6 seconds faster than the Koenigsegg Agera RS.
In addition to displaying the Venom F5 at the 2017 SEMA Show, Hennessey has brought two other cars to Vegas, the VelociRaptor 6×6 and The Exorcist, based on the 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
* Live images from the SEMA show have been added to the gallery