Hennessey is known for tuning cars and also for outrageous power outputs being extracted from just about every type of performance car including massive pick-up trucks and SUVs. However, Hennessey has been nursing ambitions of doing a bespoke hypercar from the ground up for a while now. We have seen the Venom GT and that was a taste of what this legendary tuning house can do but the Venom F5 is on an another league.
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Priced at $2.1 million a pop and only having a production run of 24 units, the Venom F5 has Hennessey playing with the big boys of the rarified hypercar club. Having made its debut at the Quail and Pebble Beach Concours, the Venom F5 quickly sold out with 12 models being allocated to the US and the rest of the production run for other markets worldwide.
A supercar that hits 311 mph
The numbers are ludicrous and make your eye balls pop out. The 6.6-liter V8 hypercar claims to be producing 1,817 hp and 1,193 lb-ft of torque, making it the most powerful hypercar ever made. Then the top speed surpassing 311 mph (500 kph) is nigh on impossible to even assess on a rational scale. But then the hypercar world is built on these numbers and owners crave for the exclusivity along with the sheer speed that these cars offer.
Along with that massive engine, the Venom F5 supercar is light, weighing just 1,360 kg (2,998 lb) which means a power -to-weight ratio of 1.34 hp/kg (1,298 hp/ton) – the highest of any road car. In the hypercar world, this is just one part of the entire show and Hennessey knows that having worked on the quality, design plus the fit and finish. Hence, the car has more than 3,000 bespoke parts and materials along craftsmanship somehow befitting its price-tag.
Its carbon fiber construction is very much the norm with the door sills, doors and all of the body panels made from it. It also looks exotic with a body sculpted from aerodynamics along with its philosophy stemming from a ruthless dedication at the altar of speed.
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Inside, it is akin to being sitting in a jet fighter plane with a pared back, driver focused cockpit. It has a “yoke” steering wheel in order to increase driver visibility of the instruments. It also makes you feel like you are piloting an F1 car! There are controls on the wheel also for lights, windscreen wipers and turn signals, while in the centre sits a green switchable mode dial that lets the driver select from Sport, Wet, Drag, Track, and F5 modes.
It isn’t some stripped out track day car though as it gets a 7.0-inch instrument display cluster, a heads-up display inspired by a fighter jet no less plus even smart-phone connectivity. There is leather upholstery as well, though it isn’t some boulevard cruiser, as you might have gathered by now.
Supercars: Look out Bugatti and Koenigsegg
The hypercar world is where owners just want the fastest and here, Hennessey has given the likes of Bugatti, Koenigsegg and others a bit of a fright with its Venom F5. This American tuning house has indeed come a long way and is America’s answer to the Bugatti Chiron.
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What we like: The Venom F5 supercar looks stunning and matches its epic power output while the speed is plain outrageous. Somehow its better value as well with its price!
What we do not like: In 2021, we were half expecting some sort of electrical power train on this car
Overall: A celebration of speed and coming of age for this American tuning house with its newest hyper car.
Somnath Chatterjee grew up around cars and most of his childhood was spent obsessing over supercars. Years later he decided to start writing about them and hasn’t looked back since. While he has had his fair share of cars, the world of automobiles never ceases to amaze him. Travelling all over the world to drive them along with sharing that experience is what ultimately keeps him going. He hopes to drive a Ferrari 288 GTO someday because, well, do you really need a reason?
