American company Hennessey Performance has unveiled the production version of its Venom F5 hypercar - set to become the most powerful internal-combustion-engined car in production and also the fastest, as it is targeting a top speed in excess of 500km/h. Yes, FIVE HUNDRED kilometres per hour. Just 24 Hennessey Venom F5s will be built in total, at a cost of US$2.1 million (approximately €1.72m) each.
Absolute power...
The Venom F5 is Hennessey's first 'ground-up' production car, as - in its previous 30 years of trading - the US firm has developed high-power Dodge Vipers and even the Hennessey Venom GT, based upon a Lotus Exige. This time, however, the carbon tub and carbon bodywork is all Hennessey's own work, resulting in a lightweight car (1,360kg at the kerb) with a strong torsional rigidity (52,000Nm/degree). And, into this tough-yet-featherweight form, Hennessey is installing a twin-turbocharged V8 engine it is nicknaming 'Fury'.
And with good reason. This motor, again built by the company itself, is a 6.6-litre weapon of mass destruction. It develops an enormous, 1,817hp at 8,000rpm and 1,617Nm of torque at 5,500rpm, with a flat torque curve ensuring plenty of grunt even at lower revs. Driving the rear wheels through a seven-speed semi-automatic single-clutch transmission, you're talking about a car developing a specific output of 277hp-per-litre and packing the power-to-weight ratio stat of 1,336hp-per-tonne. Which means simply astonishing performance numbers: namely, 0-100km/h in 2.6 seconds, 0-200km/h in 4.7s, 0-300km/h in 8.4 seconds (faster than some decent road cars do 0-100km/h) and 0-400km/h in 15.5 seconds, with a top speed of more than 500km/h possible. In fact, in seventh, the Hennessey Venom F5 - that latter alphanumeric epithet to do with the highest possible tornado rating on the Fujita scale - is said to be geared to do 534km/h. Further madness: it can do 115km/h in first gear and up to 117km/h in reverse.
Hennessey promises that this won't only be a straight-line rocket on a set of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres (measuring 345/30 R20 at the rear and 265/35 R19 on the front), as US racing driver and in-house chassis guru John Heinricy has worked on the set-up. The aerodynamics of the Venom F5's dramatic, slippery shape (0.39Cd) have been worked out using computational fluid dynamics, while unsprung mass has been kept to a minimum - carbon-ceramic brakes, forged aluminium alloys and lightweight Penske dampers all go towards helping with that. Also, the Fury V8 has been mounted low in the tub, which keeps the centre-of-gravity near the floor. Part of the reason for this is that the 6.6-litre biturbo engine has a dry sump for the oil lubrication system. Meanwhile, a Motec controller has the unenviable task of managing the forces being flung at the rear wheels, through five drive drive modes running Sport, Track, Drag, Wet and then F5; only in the last of these does the Venom unleash the full 1,817hp of the engine.
'Decathlete of the road'
Company founder and CEO, John Hennessey, said: "Our customers love speed, so we're fired up to push the boundaries of what's possible to attempt the world's fastest production car record, but the Venom F5 is about more than just speed and power. This car will handle superbly, quality is exceptional, there are more than 3,000 bespoke parts, materials are exquisite, everything is a fitting tribute to 30 years of the Hennessey brand.
"Records are there to be broken and our customers love that we push the boundaries of engineering to develop the world's fastest cars. But, with the F5, we wanted to create a true 'decathlete', a car that is about so much more than speed. So, under the guidance of legendary racing driver John Heinricy, our team is focused on producing a driving experience that matches the car's performance credentials."
Chief engineer Heinricy himself, nicknamed the 'Heinrocket', was formerly in charge of all performance vehicles at GM for a period of 38 years. He has more than 240 professional races under his belt, including 35 24-hour endurance events, holds various race and championship wins, has set three FIA Speed Records, and has done more than 1,000 laps of the Nordschleife. He therefore knows his dynamic stuff and cites both the McLaren 600LT and the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 as examples of cars which offer 'first-class driver involvement and feel'. He added: "Of all the cars I've engineered in my career, the Hennessey Venom F5 is one of, if not the most accomplished, exciting and rewarding cars to work on. With the F5 we started off with a blank sheet of paper. This is such an advantage for vehicle dynamics, as it has allowed me to draw upon the best parts of cars I have worked on throughout my career. It has given me the freedom to design the layout of the car exactly as I wanted it to be and equip it with the best possible componentry. Our intensive track and road development will ensure this car handles and performs as impressively as the world's best hypercars."