The Bugatti Veyron is often thought of as the ultimate performance car that can be purchased by you and me (so I hope you have the money, because I don’t). However, the US has just released a performance car that quite literally blows the Bugatti in the weeds!
This is the Hennessey Venom GT which boasts 1200 horsepower from its V8 engine, dropped into a mid-engined chassis that weighs just twelve hundred kilos (2,685 lbs). You want one? In the US it will set you back US$ 950,000, so I hope you have a large piggy bank.
Hennessey Venom GT
The Hennessey at 1200 BHP, has more horsepower than the Veyron (1184 BHP) and is very much lighter at 1200 kg compared to the Bugatti at 1,888 kg.
If you do have the money, you will be joining a very exclusive club, as only five of the carbon composite Venom GTs will be built each year. Each vehicle is hand-built at one of Hennessey’s three facilities (Texas, California and Silverstone, England) and the car is available in right or left hand drive, though right hand drive costs an extra US$28,000. But with the car costing US$950,000, what’s an extra 28,000?
Mind you, there are other options available to personalize your Hennessey. A Carbon Fiber Exterior can be ordered for only an extra US$ 375,000. But there’s a waiting list to contend with as well. That’s six months.
According to the designers, the Hennessey is at its optimum as far as the chassis and weight distribution is concerned when the car has both driver and passenger installed, giving it a 44-56 distribution. What you do when you haven’t got a passenger is not stated, though I suppose you can always use the old pick-up trick of throwing a bag of cement appropriately placed between the wheelbase.
The 2012 Venom GT made its first public outing in the USA at the McCall’s Motorworks Revival at the Monterey Jet Center, the traditional first event of the Monterey / Pebble Beach weekend.
