THE 300MPH HENNESSEY VENOM F5 MIGHT GO TOPLESS
In theory, the Hennessey Venom F5 hypercar is set to challenge for the title of world's fastest production car, and now it might do that without a roof.
News of the Hennessey Venom F5 has been received in dribs and drabs since it was first seen at SEMA in Las Vegas in 2017. Now, the Texan company has finally announced that it will go into official testing in late 2019 and, rather casually, did so with a teaser image of a topless roadster.
The Venom has big boots to fill, especially if it wants to beat its arch-enemy, the titillating Koenigsegg Agera RS. To this end, the F5 will use a carbon fibre bucket engineered by UK firm, Delta Motorsport. This is good news for a version minus a roof as such a tub offers enough structural rigidity to accommodate for such high speeds without one.
The mighty 7.4-litre twin-turbo V8 is set to deliver 1600bhp and 1300lb ft of torque to the rear wheels, with the option to tick off either a single-clutch automatic or a manual gearbox on the order form. On paper then, the Venom F5 should achieve a 0-186mph dash in less than ten seconds and, incredibly, should do 0-249mph-0 again in under 30 seconds. If that doesn't blow your rug off, then you have no feelings.
All of these numbers need context. The 277.9mph Agera RS sports a 5-litre V8 with has a few hundred fewer horses available and takes 7.3 seconds longer to achieve its zero to top speed to zero sprint time.
CEO John Hennessy said at the launch, "We expect the Venom F5, named for the most powerful tornado-speed winds on the Fujita scale, to be the first road car capable of achieving more than 300mph and have worked closely with Pennzoil to get us across the finish line."
So that's that. Now we wait for a couple of things. Firstly, we will have to see if the Venom F5 can break that magical 300mph number and, secondly, the roadster version will only enter production, if it receives approval, once some of the 24 coupe's are on the road.
Yup, going topless at face-warping speeds is not guaranteed just yet but, hopefully, the limited Venom F5 coupe, which starts at around £1.25m, will make a good enough impression for the roadster to get the green light too. If so, then it will also be limited to 24 units but expect the price to be inflated because, well, topless.