Speed records will always be chased. Bigger, stronger, lighter, faster, is the mantra. Of course, if you build it, you have to test it. Because if an instrument test doesn’t back up your claims, they’re just claims. But with great speed comes great risk, especially in the realm of hypercars and supercars. Just ask Hennessey Performance.
The Texas-based manufacturer was conducting 0-250 mph tests with a new aerodynamic setup for its Venom F5 hypercar on Monday when things went wrong. In a social media post, founder and owner John Hennessey said the Venom F5 prototype was delivering strong acceleration figures when a downforce issue caused the test driver to lose control. Hennessey didn’t provide many details about the incident other than to thank emergency responders and crews at the scene and saying the driver walked away “without injuries.”
The Venom F5 “Revolution” Coupe, the new track-focused variant of the standard coupe, is claimed to deliver more than 800 pounds of downforce at 186 mph and more than 1,400 pounds at 249 mph. Hennessey didn’t say which Venom F5 model was tested, but the driver’s ability to walk away from anything even remotely approaching those downforce figures is a testament to the vehicle’s overall strength and safety. It was likely a terrifying experience nonetheless.
Finding a location to test a vehicle at such high speeds was a test in itself. Hennessey Performance typically ends up on runways. For this particular test, the Hennessey team was at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
The Venom F5 was announced in 2017, offering 1,600 horsepower for a price tag of $1.6 million. By the time order books finally opened (and closed) in 2021, everything had gone up. Horsepower was now 1,817, and the price was $2.1 million. But to achieve a claimed top speed of 311 mph, the production car would come without airbags and with a “show and display”-only tile for US buyers.
Regardless, the 24 units available for the vehicle were sold out.
The Venom F5, which features a 6.6-liter, twin-turbocharged “Fury” V8, has a carbon fiber chassis and body, weighs less than 3,000 pounds and can go from 0 to 124 mph in 4.7 seconds. A track-tuned version was announced last year . The Venom F5 “Revolution” Coupe, which is also limited to just 24 cars, recalibrates the standard coupe’s “Fury” engine and adds other mods, including aerodynamic enhancements, a retuned suspension, new wheels and a roof-mounted air intake. The Revolution variant will set you back $2.7 million.
Hennessey said the team will evaluate the aerodynamic data to determine the root cause of the loss of downforce.