The new Hennessey Venom F5

Hennessey Venom F5

 
Hennessey Performance has unveiled the production version of its ​Venom F5 hypercar, ahead of customer deliveries in 2021 – the company’s 30th anniversary year. The all-new 100% bespoke Hennessey Venom F5 is built to deliver the world’s most exhilarating all-round driving experience and unparalleled performance. With its immense power, low weight and meticulously honed dynamics, the F5 boasts extraordinary handling and a truly visceral experience behind the wheel.

Priced at $2.1 million dollars, just 24 ultra-exclusive versions of the Venom F5 will be produced with each example unique to its owner. The heart of the small-volume car is the Hennessey-built 6.6-liter twinturbocharged V8 engine named ‘Fury’, which delivers 1,817 hp at 8,000 rpm and packs 1,617 Nm (1,193 lb-ft) of torque.

Deploying this unprecedented level of power in a car weighing just 1,360 kg (2,998 lb) results in prodigious acceleration: 0-100 kph (62 mph) takes less than three seconds and it will smash a 0-200 kph (124 mph) run in under five seconds. As part of its validation, the Hennessey Venom F5  is targeting a top speed in excess of 500 kph (311 mph) and will prove this with a transparent and independently verified top speed run in 2021.
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The New Hennessey Venom F5 is a symphony of mind-bending numbers, but that’s not the whole story. The car’s dynamics have been developed by Hennessey’s in-house dynamics guru – legendary US racing driver and vehicle set-up expert John ‘Heinrocket’ Heinricy. During the car’s development, his input will ensure that F5 offers a world class all-round driving experience on road and track.

The F5 will complete top speed testing in the first half of 2021 at the NASA Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida. ​The F5 aims to exceed 500 kph (311mph) on a two-way validated speed run using a production specification car. 
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Distilling 30 years of expertise, knowledge, and world-class engineering, the New Hennessey Venom F5 is seen as the culmination of the Hennessey brand’s innovation and success. Additionally, it serves as a launch-pad for the next 30 years and is a significant leap forward for this Low Volume Car Manufacturer.  The F5 marks the beginning of a new era of Hennessey vehicles designed to delight the driver and celebrate performance engineering.

The rigidity offered by the F5’s 86 kg (190 lb) carbon tub is crucial, not only for stability at high speed, but also for precise cornering and road-holding. The monocoque is a huge part of what makes the F5 a great driver’s car, its torsional rigidity (52,000 newton meters per degree or 38,353 lb-ft torque per degree), providing a solid base to build from and proving essential for the car’s agility. 

With more than 1.0 G of acceleration and a furious sound that combines the thunderous V8 muscle car rumble with turbo whistles and pops, this car will offer the world’s most visceral driving experience.

​Aerodynamic performance, which has been refined and evaluated extensively using computational fluid-dynamics (CFD), will be perfected by Heinricy in the real world with a series of ‘coast down’ tests. These run the car to a designated speed then coast while recording downforce and drag. Alongside aerodynamics, significant consideration was given from the outset to both unsprung mass and achieving a low centre of gravity. The F5 uses carbon ceramic brakes, forged aluminium wheels and lightweight Penske dampers to keep unsprung mass low, helping the car to feel nimble and ‘alive’. The centre of gravity is kept low by positioning the powertrain deep within the car’s substructure. The Hennessey-built engine features a dry sump that enables the crank height to be kept very low to the ground.

​With the engine delivering such immense power, one of the challenges for the Hennessey engineers is how best to transfer the car’s colossal forces through its rear wheels to the ground. This is handled with precision by the car’s Motec controller, which will be calibrated for optimum power and traction control. In addition, five different drive modes (Sport, Track, Drag, Wet, F5) can be selected that alter the power delivery, traction and braking performance of the car. Only the top ‘F5’ mode will unlock the maximum available power.
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The powertrain exhibits an extremely flat torque curve, meaning that the F5 produces high levels of pulling power from very low down in the rev range.The F5 uses a specially-designed longitudinally-mounted semi-automatic gearbox with seven ratios and with steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters.

At the core of the F5 is an ultra-lightweight carbon fibre monocoque that tips the scales at just 86kg. This achievement sets the tone for the rest of the car where lightness features in every component to achieve the 1,360kg (2,998lb) total dry vehicle weight. The all-new Hennessey designed carbon chassis features an intricate carbon weave in a herringbone pattern down the centre line of the car. 

​On the inside the F5 proudly exhibits premium simplicity, there is nothing inside the car that is peripheral to the act of driving. This is helps to save weight, and to promote total driver focus – just like a pilot sitting in a fighter jet cockpit. The interior is true to the car’s roots displaying raw carbon fibre throughout, but with hints of luxury from leather panels on the doors, dashboard and seats.

​The parts of the steering wheel where the hands naturally grip, are leather-clad, the rest is exposed carbon-fibre. On the wheel are tactile controls for lights, windscreen wipers and turn signals, while in the centre sits a green switchable mode dial that lets the driver select from Sport, Wet, Drag, Track, and F5 modes.

Behind the wheel on the top of the steering column sits a 7.0-inch instrument display cluster, inspired by the head-up display screen in a jet fighter.

Above the central vents sits a 9.0-inch Alpine touchscreen infotainment system. This gives the driver and passenger access to Apple Car Play and Android Auto with satellite navigation, stereo functionality and Bluetooth phone pairing for hands-free phone and multimedia use. The integration of Apple Car Play and Android Auto future-proofs the F5’s infotainment interface to ensure the system always remains up-to-date.