Hennessey Venom GT hits 265.7 mph

Making a car go fast isn't rocket science: You add power and subtract weight. So if money were no object, you might take one of the lightest cars you could find and shove in one of the most powerful production engines on the planet. The result might look a lot like the Hennessey Venom GT.

In February, John Hennessey took the Venom GT to central California's United States Naval Air Station Lemoore and ran it up to a top speed of 265.7 mph. Hennessey says that makes the Venom GT the fastest production car available for sale.

Now, we know that the Bugatti Veyron is capable of hitting at least 267.8 mph, but in production guise the vehicle is electronically limited to 258 mph. Additionally, the Venom GT hit its speed on a 2.9-mile runway, where the Veyron had a 5.6-mile straight in Germany to achieve that figure.

“Thus, at 265.7 mph the Venom GT is the fastest production car available to the public,” said Hennessey.

The run was made on Michelin Pilot Super Sport DOT approved tires and verified with a VBox 3i GPS system.

The Venom GT uses a highly modified Lotus Exige chassis and is powered by a twin-turbocharged 7.0-liter V8 making 1,244 hp. It weighs in at 2,743 pounds, giving it a power-to-weight ratio of 2.2 pounds per horse. That puts it above the Ariel Atom V8 and just below the American-made SSC Ultimate Aero CCX.

Hennessey will build 29 examples of the Venom GT, a third of which the company says are already spoken for. The Venom GT costs $1.2 million and takes about six months to be made once ordered.

By Jake Lingeman