Three years since it was revealed in concept form, the Hennessey Venom F5 is finally on track to make its production-spec debut by the end of 2020.
Speaking on the Drive On podcast, company founder John Hennessey said the hypercar had originally been scheduled to appear at California's annual Pebble Beach motoring extravaganza, which was cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. He is yet to confirm exactly when the F5 will fully break cover, but maintained it will be before 2021.
In production guise, the Venom F5 will have a price tag of £1.2 million and a top speed projected by the company to exceed 300mph.
The power to get it to this headline-grabbing top speed comes from a twin-turbocharged V8 producing in excess of 1600bhp. Hennessey aims for the F5, which is named after the most powerful storm on the Fujita scale, to be the fastest road car yet made.
Weighing in at 1338kg, which is little more than a Ford Fiesta, the Venom uses carbonfibre for the entirety of its aerodynamically optimised body, which has a drag coefficient of 0.33.
Unlike previous models, which have been based on the Lotus Exige, Hennessey has developed and built this latest car in-house from the ground up, including the engine, chassis and body. A paddle-shift, single-clutch seven-speed gearbox is used, and the car is rear-wheel drive.
No 0-62mph time has been revealed, but 0-186mph (300kph) will come in less than 10sec, and the company plans to break the 0-400kph-0 record comfortably, predicting a time of under 30sec. This would mean smashing Bugatti's time of just under 42sec, and Koenigsegg's record of 36.44sec.
Just 24 examples will be made, and it is yet to be confirmed whether any will come to Europe.
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russ13b
out of curiosity
what tyres are they using?
jason_recliner
russ13b wrote:
Big ones.
sputnik
expensive ones like the
expensive ones like the Bugattis
oaffie
A handful of untalented but
A handful of untalented but wealthy individuals are going to have some big accidents in this.
Overdrive
Did I read this right?
Jesus wept.....probably the 12 disciples too!
jmd67
I remember for years that big
I remember for years that big debate was if the Countach could actually hit 180mph. The argument raged for a decade and a half. In the late 80's if someone said they would make a road car that could exceed 300mph they would have laughed at.
Stories of 917's going past 240mph at Le Mans were magical. These kinds of speeds were just insane. I think that might be the reason why many folk are still fascinated by cars such as these. As a rich boys plaything they are completely irrelevent except for the fact that they allow us to dream about ultimate speed, which I suppose is and always will be completely addictive.
I can't wait to see how this turns out.
joddy
Ball achingly irrelevant
Ball achingly irrelevant piece auto click bait, seriously who cares
eseaton
If this makes your balls ache
Symanski
Too much drag.
Drag coefficent is too high for even 1600bhp to push this car to 300mph. The Bugatti Chiron has 1500, a drag of 0.35 and is only expected to read 288mph. It doesn't sound like much, but the air at that speed becomes like a gel that you've got to force through and an extra 100bhp isn't going to cut it!
I'd take a ride in the Bugatti at this speed, but I'd also be wary of being in any other car. I'm not convinced they'd be stable, and I suspect they're cost to requiring rudders to keep then straight!
jmd67
Symanski wrote:
Good points all. The thought of crashing at 300mph is terrifying. I would imagine it would take around a mile to stop. I think Koensigsegg have done the sensible thing of stopping chasing top speed and are limiting the Regera to around 250mph (limited to 250mph!!!).
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