Here it is Internet, Hennessey’s first-ever hypercar, the Venom F5 which is an 1800hp monster. Hold on.
What you’re looking at right now is the first production prototype of the Hennessey Venom F5. It’s a brand new machine of Hennessey’s own design meaning it ain’t based on anything else on the planet, and its goal, according to Hennessey, is “to be the fastest car on the planet”.
And it seems to have the chops. Let’s start with the engine, the F5 is rear-drive and powered by a rear-mid-mounted 6.6-litre twin-turbo V8 making 1817hp at 8000rpm. The thing weighs just 1360kg and that makes for a power-to-weight ratio of 1.34hp/kg which Hennessey is claiming to be the highest of any road car.
The engine might start its life as a GM V8 but everything from the cast-iron block, dry sump, turbos and more is all bespoke Hennessey stuff.
The transmission is a seven-speed single clutch semi-auto with flappy paddles. Power and torque is controlled in the first four gears to ensure you don’t just destroy the tyres every time you pull away from the lights.
The Venom F5 will be available in both LHD and RHD. Yay. And Hennessey is planning a top-speed run early next year where it’s aiming to record a top speed of around 500km/h. Hennessey is suggesting its early modelling shows a 0-100km/h time of 2.5 seconds and that it’ll hit 250mph in around 15.5 seconds and that makes it a lot quicker than the current 0-250mph record holder, the Koenigsegg Regera.
The Venom F5 is built on a carbon-fibre monocoque chassis weighing just 85kg requiring 3000 bespoke pieces of tooling and more than three years of design and development. The vehicle’s shell is also made from carbon-fibre. Suspension is front and rear double wishbones with adjustable coil over Penske dampers.
The brakes are whoppers by Brembo and the wheels are forged and staggered (19s at the front and 20s) at the rear wrapped in off-the-shelf Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s
On the inside and Hennessey suggests it’s more like a fighter jet than a car. Swing open the butterfly doors and there’s raw carbon-fibre throughout with a steering wheel inspired by both an F1 wheel and a fighter jet yoke. The top of the steering wheel has been cut off to improve forward visibility, something that’ll be pretty important when you’re ripping along at 500km/h.
Behind the wheel is a 7.0-inch display with the screen changing depending on the driving mode selected (via the steering wheel). And they are Sport, Wet, Drag, Track, and F5 modes which fiddle with things like braking, throttle response, traction control and more). Other controls for things like lights, windscreen wipers and indicator lights. There’s a 9.0-inch infotainment screen on the dashboard that offers Apple and Android connectivity.
There will only be 24 of these things built and before Hennesey will let owners press the F5 mode button (only this will unleash all 1800hp) they’ll have to participate in a day’s driving course.
What remains to be seen is whether this thing will go around corners as well as it will no doubt explode in a straight line. This thing is super cool and another example of…only in America.
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