Hennessey Has Tested Venom F5 Engine To Over 2000 HP

John Hennessey has confirmed that the engine set to power the Venom F5 hypercar has been tested at over 2000 hp.

During an interview with Top Gear about the Texas company’s plans to set a new production car top speed record with the Venom F5, Hennessey revealed that it will do whatever is necessary to break the 300 mph (482 km/h) barrier.

“We’ve actually tested the engine at over 2,000bhp. Do we plan to deliver that power level to our clients? No, but we’ll deliver as much power as we need to break 300mph.”

The race to 300 mph is on.

This engine will take the form of a massive twin-turbo 7.6-liter V8. The powertrain was recently unveiled during Monterey Car Week and will deliver in excess of 1300 lb-ft (1760 Nm) of torque. By comparison, the Bugatti Chiron uses a quad-turbo 8.0-liter W16 engine delivering 1479 hp and 1180 lb-ft (1600 Nm) of torque.

Hennessey says it will begin testing the first Venom F5 prototype next year and by the end of 2019, wants to go out and set some impressive speeds.

“[The aim is] to go as fast as we can. 300mph is the kind of baseline – that’s where we would like to begin. Ultimately however, the tyres and the venue of where we’d run the F5 are the limiting factor.”

In early 2014, the Hennessey Venom GT sprinted to an impressive 270.9 mph (435.31 km/h) at California’s Naval Air Station Lemoore. The company likes the idea of eclipsing 300 mph somewhere in Texas but it remains to be seen what location could be up for task at hand.