The CEO says Hennessey has to solve this issue before the Venom F5 can beat the speed record

“Where can we go and basically make it a test drive that averages over 300 MPH?” Hennessey says.

The automaker believes its car needs five or six miles to gain enough speed to achieve the speed record and still have enough room to stop safely afterwards. Hennessey goes on to explain how traditional options in the US may not be enough.

“There are long runways. There’s a runway where we set a record with the Venom GT 10 years ago at NASA in Florida, where they were landing a space shuttle. From end to end, it’s 3.2 miles. So you can speed up only maybe 2.4 two and a half miles. Then you need that seven or eight-tenths of a mile to slow down.”

Hennessey also told The Manual how some of his closest rivals could have an advantage when it comes to venues, saying: “(While) Bugatti ran the 304, Ehra-Lessien is 5.5 to six miles long. And then you have this kind of high-speed oval at both ends of the runway where you can accelerate before you even get into the long run at once.

I think the bug hits that one time at 180 miles an hour. So, they’re already… under 200 miles per hour, and then they have… 5.6 miles to accelerate. NASA, the car must be stopped at the end of the runway because after that, it’s just grass and a crocodile-infested swamp.”

While it may be difficult to find a track long enough to safely break the world speed record, Hennessey is hopeful that a solution will be found this year. One promising alternative would see the record potentially broken in the company’s home state of Texas.

Hennessey says: “We are looking for other alternatives. We are looking at the possibility of a Texas highway, possibly later this year and we are talking to the state about it. They seem open to that but it just takes time to sort that out and sort that out. In fact, having something longer than the runway would be better for having room to move on.

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