The Venom F5 reaches 352 km/h in just 800 meters! (video)

The Hennessey Venom F5 set a new record by accelerating to 352 km/h in less than 15 seconds.

Imagine the scene… in one of your dreams. Because in reality, unless you are in Germany, it’s life imprisonment. You are at the Saint-Arnoult toll barrier. You forgot your toll tag and have to take a ticket. Frustrated, you floor the accelerator as the barrier lifts.

With the pedal to the metal, you cover the first 200 meters in 6.77 seconds and the speedometer already reads 121.35 miles per hour (mph), or 195 km/h. The 400 meters are crossed in 9.82 seconds and the speed climbs to 169.02 mph, or 272 km/h. After 800 meters, when choosing between heading to Le Mans or Bordeaux, you lift off. Only 14.44 seconds have passed and the speedometer claims 219 mph, or 352 km/h. The Gendarmes’ Alpine A110 didn’t even bother to turn on its sirens, a futile effort. Notably, going from 100 to 200 mph (161 to 322 km/h) took just 6.81 seconds!

The Bugatti Chiron Humiliated

Hennessey isn’t a manufacturer that speaks much to us on this side of the Atlantic, but in the United States, this preparer has a good reputation. And the figures mentioned here are by no means a dream, but a reality.

On the NASA test track at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Hennessey’s latest model, the Venom F5, taught a lesson to the Bugatti Chiron and others like the Rimac Nevera. It should be noted that these figures are not official, as they were recorded with a high-performance telemetry tool, the Racelogic VBOX, but without the precision of Swiss watchmaking.

However, Hennessey claims that its Venom F5 covers the same distances with a speed excess of 15 mph (24.1 km/h) over the 100% electric Rimac Nevera (332.7 km/h) and 28 mph (45 km/h) over the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport (311.6 km/h). On the downside, the gear shifts are very slow, akin to those of a Smart ForTwo from the early 2010s. But there’s a reason for that which will be revealed later…

Nevertheless, Hennessey admits to being relatively disappointed with these figures, estimating they could still be much better in the future, as the outside temperature of 32° and the dusty track surface hindered performance. The American manufacturer promises to return in the fall and put everything in place to do even better and aim for proper homologation.

What is the Venom F5?

This American hypercar, unveiled in 2022, is promised to have a limited production of 40 units. To be fair, Hennessey overestimated, as all the units are already sold. 23 models have already been delivered and the remaining 17 will follow by the end of 2025.

Under the hood of this carbon creation is primarily a 6.6-liter twin-turbo V8 that develops an impressive 1817 horsepower thanks, in particular, to the use of a high-octane E85 biofuel. The tires selected to transmit all this fury to the only rear wheels are Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2Rs approved for street use.

We almost forgot: its price is 3 million dollars… before taxes. That is 2.77 million euros excluding VAT. All of a sudden, a Bugatti seems more appealing…

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