The Hennessey Venom F5 completes testing at the 271.6-mile mark.
Hennessey announced Wednesday that it has signed off on the Venom F5 technology development, and in the final round of testing, the domestically produced hypercar recorded a top speed of 271.6 mph on NASA's runway in Florida.
This is close to the current land speed record of 282.9 mph set by SSC Tuatara in 2021, but Hennessey's ultimate goal is to reach 311 mph (500 km/h in the metric system).
Bugatti's Chiron Supersport 300+ hit 304.773 mph in 2019, but this is not considered an official world record because Bugatti does not do the mandatory reverse run.
Hennessey's final round of testing for the Venom F5 was a high-speed stability, braking, and suspension validation, with most of the driving done by veteran General Motors engineer John Heinricy. He is the chief engineer for the Venom F5 program.
The first of three rounds of high-speed testing was completed prior to the hypercar's public unveiling at the 2021 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. During this time, the Venom F5 hit 200 mph; the second round, completed in January, hit 250 mph.
For ultimate performance, the Venom F5 runs in F5 mode and, in the case of E85, the 6.6-liter twin-turbo V8 engine delivers a maximum output of 1,817 hp and 1,193 lb-ft of torque (peak output reaches 1,542 hp on regular gasoline (peak power reaches 1,542 hp with regular gasoline). In this mode, the engine speed increases to 8,500 rpm, compared to 8,200 rpm in the other modes. Power is received by a CIMA 7-speed single clutch automated manual transmission.
The testing program includes an unused Air Force base, as well as Hennessey's own Seeley, Texas, and the Silverstone Circuit in England, where the first of 24 Venom F5 hypercars was built.
While the names "Hennessey" and "Venom" may sound familiar, the Venom F5 is a different car from the 265-mile Venom GT, and a new company called Hennessey Special Vehicles (HSV), separate from the Hennessey Performance Engineering conversion business The Venom F5 is manufactured by a new company called Hennessey Special Vehicles (HSV).
Like the Venom GT, Hennessey is aiming to break the land speed record for a production car. According to Hennessey, it plans to continue development to 300 mph and beyond toward the end of the year. This will be later than originally planned as Hennessey concentrates on building and delivering customer cars. Hennessey is building vehicles at a rate of 12 per year and plans to build only 24 in total.
"We are excited to complete the technical development of the Venom F5 hypercar and move into a new phase as we focus on scaling up production of customer cars," said Hennessey CEO and founder John Hennessey in a statement. 'The final validation of the F5 will break 270 miles per hour and we intend to continue our journey to 300 miles per hour towards the end of the year.'
The company previously said it was considering using customer vehicles to drive at top speed on closed sections of Texas highways. It may also consider using NASA runways. Stay tuned.