Hennessey Venom F5 Sets Road Car Lap Record at Circuit of the Americas

The Press Clip accompanying this announcement is available by clicking this link.

• ‘Decathlete of Hypercars’ achieves telemetry-verified COTA record of 2:10.90
• Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution hits 193.10 mph on the home circuit in Austin, Texas
• The new road car record beats the time of the McLaren P1 by almost seven seconds
• David Donohue, Hennessey Test Driver, credits the “amazing power” and “exceptional handling”

Photo: COTA Lap record: Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution becomes America’s fastest hypercar

Videos: John Hennessey at the COTA lap record of the Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution – with VBOX footage

SEALY, Texas, March 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Hennessey Special Vehicles, a Texas-based supercar manufacturer, has set a new road car lap record at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) with a lap break of 2:10.90 for the 3.41 km race.

Breaking the previous COTA road lap record* by 0.43 seconds makes the track-targeted Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution the fastest car ever to lap the Texan circuit. The flying lap beat the time of 2:11.33, recorded by the Czinger C21, as well as beating the previous McLaren P1 record (2:17.12) by almost seven seconds. During the record-breaking race on March 11, ‘America’s Hypercar’ also hit a record breaking speed on the 1,016 meter long back straight, reaching 193.10 mph.

Immediately after the launch, Hennessey decided to build the ‘Decathlete of Hypercars’. The purpose of the 1,817 bhp twin-turbocharged 6.6-liter V8 hypercar was not only to exceed 300 mph, but also to be a high-capacity track car. Driven by the manufacturer’s in-house test driver, David Donohue, the Venom F5 demonstrated its ability to pull up to +1.59 G in corners and -1.61 G under braking. This extreme performance was achieved on MICHELIN Pilot Sport Cup 2 R road tires and uses Brembo brakes, carbon ceramic discs, and the latest Bosch ABS technology to brake from around 200 mph safely and under control.

Donohue’s proven racing skills, combined with the car’s light weight of 2,998 pounds (1,360 kg), saw the large passenger car aggressively tackle loose tracks and technical corners. Where the circuit was straight, the massive power from Hennessey’s ‘Fury’ engine enabled a record-breaking time – the Venom F5 could accelerate from 0-200 kph (0-124 mph) in just 4.7 seconds.

John Hennessey, company founder and CEO: “Racing, and life, is often more about the journey than the destination. Seeing the Venom F5 take the production car’s lap record at our home circuit has been an important part of our journey with the F5. We don’t do these things because it’s easy , we do it because it’s hard. The process of pushing our American car to the limit makes our team of engineers, designers and technicians the best while also delivering an improved product and experience to our customers. We look forward to continuing the journey and pushing the Venom F5 to new records. speed in the future.

Engineering for the track-focused Revolution variant of the Venom F5 was led by Hennessey’s VP of Engineering, Brian Jones who joined the company in 2023 from his previous post as Chief Engineer of AMG ONE. Brian and Hennessey’s engineering team worked to optimize the Venom F5’s setup to tackle the full 3.41-mile Grand Prix Circuit.

Compared to its Coupe sibling, the lighter and more refined Revolution features a full-width carbon fiber rear wing, a larger front splitter and rear diffuser, as well as reworked suspension, engine cooling and digital telemetry. It also features diving jets in front of each front wheel that channel air to improve grip when entering. Additionally, the Revolution has a roof-mounted central air scoop, which delivers cool air to the F5’s engine bay.

David Donohue, Hennessey Hypercar Test Driver: “Having been part of the development of the Venom F5 Revolution, I knew it could be done quickly, but when it came to pushing the car hard, I was blown away by its incredible power and exceptional handling. There is no other car in the world that provides such an enjoyable and interesting to drive.

American racing champion David Donohue joined Hennessey in 2023 as its Hypercar Test Driver. The 2023 Pikes Peak record holder has more than three decades of racing experience, including first-place wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the North American Touring Car Championship, and the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

For the record-setting circuit, independent, third-party timing was performed by RACELOGIC using VBOX satellite telemetry and data logging systems. To further confirm the run, the RACELOGIC team captured unbroken video footage of the record lap – the full video appears at Hennessey’s YouTube channel. The Venom F5 Revolution that completed the fastest road car circuit ran on street legal tires, ran Shell standard pump ethanol, and was filled with Pennzoil standard fluids.

Ade Ajala, President, Shell Lubricants Americas: “The entire Shell Pennzoil team is honored to be associated with Hennessey and fully supports the team’s efforts to push the boundaries of hypercar speed and performance. We are very proud that Pennzoil Platinum is under the hood of the powerful Venom F5, and we wholeheartedly support this achievement. excellent – to see the Venom F5 reach the COTA lap record proves that this is truly a supercar destroyer.”

Design, specification, and assembly of each Venom F5 is done just 100 miles from COTA at Hennessey Headquarters in Sealy, Texas. Hennessey has already built and delivered 22 Venom F5 Coupe, Roadster, and Revolution models to customers across the United States and around the world. Few build spaces remain for the Roadster and Revolution variants while all Coupe models are sold.

Now, having established the basic credentials of ‘America’s Hypercar’, the company is ready to push the +300 mph V-max. In development, the Venom F5 achieved over 270 mph at the former NASA Landing Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The search is now on for a runway or public road long enough to allow the 1,817 bhp twin-turbo V8 monster to accelerate to over 300 mph and return to zero safely.

Potential buyers can apply to own a Venom F5 Revolution or Roadster HennesseySpecialVehicles.com. Alternatively, interested parties may call Hennessey at +1 979.885.1300, or contact the company’s network of US and international retailers.

*The previous COTA car lap record was set by the Czinger 21C of 2:11.33 on September 23, 2023. The previous lap record was 2:17.12, set by the McLaren P1.

Photo: COTA Lap record: Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution becomes America’s fastest hypercar
Footage recorded on March 11, 2024 and in additional COTA test sessions.

Videos: John Hennessey at the COTA lap record of the Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution – with VBOX footage

About Hennessey Custom Cars
The Hennessey Special Vehicles team was formed to create the world record breaking supercar, the Hennessey Venom GT (270.49 mph in 2014) – which remains the fastest manual car in the world, and currently holds the world record for ‘fastest convertible’ ‘ Hennessey Venom. GT Roadster (265.5 mph in 2016).

In 2020, Hennessey Special Vehicles launched the 100% bespoke, twin-turbocharged, 6.6-litre V8 Venom F5 Coupe, which went on sale in 2021. The Roadster and track-focused Revolution variant joined the F5 Coupe in 2022 and 2023. , boasting the incredible 1,817 bhp ‘Fury’ F5 engine. In the middle of 2023, the Texas company revealed the Venom F5 Revolution Roadster, which combines the driving of open cars with the direction of the racing circuit. The company offers services like never before in its mission to ‘make fast cars fast’. HennesseySpecialVehicles.com

Social network
Instagram: Hennessey Custom Cars / Hennessey Performance | YouTube: HennesseyPerformanceF5 | Facebook: @hennesseype | X: @HennesseyPerf

Media contact
For more information, photos, or comments, contact Hennessey’s PR team:

Jon Fisher
Jon.Visscher@vcomm.co.uk / Vcomm.co.uk
Other Hennessey photos and videos are available at HennesseyMedia.com