Hennessey's 290mph, 1400bhp Venom F5 Will Be The World's Fastest Car By A Long Way

This is the new Venom F5, built by Hennessey Performance as the successor to its ballistic Venom GT. The Texan tuner predicts it will have more than 1400bhp - when the engine build is completed - which will eclipse the Venom GT’s speed records.

Named after the most powerful tornado on the Fujita scale, the new F5 should hit a top speed well in excess of the GT’s 270.49mph world record speed thanks to both power increases and reductions in drag. And all this from a road-legal hypercar.

Hennessey revealed that it has increased the size of the V8 engine’s twin turbochargers - the new F5 is expected to use the same block as the GT - while the fuel system and intercooler capacity have been upgraded to handle the extra stress.

When you’re trying to improve on a 270mph+ top speed, engine upgrades alone are not enough. The F5 hopes to fight the laws of physics by reducing drag coefficient from 0.44 to below 0.40, while still keeping a decent amount of downforce through underbody venturis, a rear diffuser and a retractable rear wing.

Gunning for the Venom GT’s incredible 0-200mph acceleration time of 14.51 seconds, Hennessey has managed to keep the F5’s weight to below 1300kg, a minor increase over the GT’s 1244kg weight. But it’s not all about driving fast in a straight line; the F5 has a quick-shifting single clutch paddle-shift transmission, as well as a manual for the brave. There’s also GPS-based stability and traction control systems to keep all that power reigned in.

The Venom F5 will officially be unveiled in 2015, with deliveries of the 30 production cars starting in 2016. Want one? Prices haven’t been revealed, but will be considerably higher than the Venom GT’s $1.2m (£710k) price tag.