Visit to Hennessey Performance

I took a flight out from Hong Kong to LAX and after the 12 hour flight boarded another plane to Houston Texas the home of John Hennessey and Hennessey Performance. Well actually Hennessey Performance is located about 50 miles west of Houston in Sealy, yes the same place that makes those comfortable beds.

Hennessey Performance is a major tuning house that produces some of the fastest cars in the world, they have done turbo conversions on numerous cars including the Ford GT, Corvette's, Chevy Camaro's, Dodge Vipers, Cadillac CTS, and even trucks like the Ford F150!

The real reason i came to Sealy was to see the Venom GT, this car is nothing like it is in the photos, it's incredibly long and wide compared to what you think it would look like just by viewing pics of the Venom GT on the internet or in magazines, i would say its big as a Lamborghini Murcielago, you have to see the car in person, you will be impressed... Guaranteed!

The first thing i notice is the attention to detail, the engine looks incredible and it looks like a real engine without any plastic or carbon fiber engine covers, what you see is what you get, a 6.2L twin turbo 1200bhp monster. The lines of the body are gorgeous, everyone says it looks like a lotus when looking at the brochure but the fact is when you see the car in person any thought related to the exige just disappears in the back of your mind.

This yellow car is the 4th production model built by Hennessey, it belongs to a client and is used for car shows and for the press so i couldn't drive it, however after a short test ride as a passenger i knew the Venom was nothing like anything i had ever experienced, its hard to describe how fast it is but the numbers do not lie and the fact that it is faster than the Veyron to 300km/h by almost 8 seconds is pure insanity.

John Hennessey will only build 5 of these cars per year and 29 in total, they are very rare and exclusive. Hennessey Performance will build you one to your spec however you like it, red, orange, yellow, pink whatever, the interior is also completely bespoke, this yellow Venom has a black leather and alcantara interior however if you wanted it in full leather thats also okay, and in any color you desire.

If this is your first time reading about the Venom GT please go down and check out my introduction post on the car or the website itself at www.venomgt.com plus there are a number of great videos on youtube of the car being reviewed.

For now here are some photos i took of the Venom GT and of Hennessey Performance, a big thank you to John Hennessey for showing us the Venom GT and his amazing facility.

DMS Automotive ECU Program | Porsche 997 Sport Classic

This car one rare car, only 250 made and very few were right hand drive like this one. This car was tuned via the OBD II port and uses a Siemens ECU.

DMS Automotive ECU Program | Maserati Granturismo S

Another Maserati Granturismo S we worked on in Jakarta, this car in my opinion has the most intoxicating OEM exhaust i've heard on a car. We can also work on the Grantursmo MC Stradale, please email us for info on any of our programs from DMS Automotive.

DMS Automotive ECU Program | Ferrari F430

He we have a nicely modified F430, this car is located in Indonesia and the owner had us fly over to tune the ECU's on his car. On the 430 increase in power is 40bhp with a lot more torque in the mid range RPM. Its a very fun car afterwards especially in race mode.

Hennessey Venom GT

The Story

In 2007, Road & Track Magazine invited Hennessey Performance to participate in a shootout between some of the world’s fastest supercars. The contest? Find out which car could accelerate from 0 to 200 mph in the shortest amount of time. Some of the heavyweights competing where the Mercedes McLaren SLR, Lamborghini Murcielago, Ruf Porsche 911 Twin Turbo and the 1001 bhp all-wheel drive Bugatti Veyron 16.4.

For our entry, the Hennessey team brought the company’s latest Venom 1000 Twin Turbo Viper. Several runs were made by each car on the 2.9 mile long runway at Lemoore Naval Air Station in central California. At the end of the day, the Hennessey Venom 1000 Viper was crowned king of the ROAD & TRACK “Speed Kings” shootout by posting the quickest time of the day by running 0 to 200 mph in an astonishing 20.3 seconds. By comparison, the 2nd place Bugatti Veyron 16.4 was nearly 4 seconds behind the Venom with a time of 24.2 seconds.

“At the end of the Road & Track test, we were very pleased with the results and the Venom taking first place over the Veyron”, says John Hennessey. “As far as I am aware, we have the only car that has ever beaten a Veyron in an independent, head to head test of vehicle performance. While we were quite happy with that accomplishment, it did not take long for me to begin thinking about what could we do to improve the performance of our car.”

He continues, “I thought that we could possibly add a bit more power but had concerns about being able to put that power to the ground via the Viper front-engine rear-wheel drive platform. My next thought was to reduce weight… try to lighten the Viper from 3500 lbs to under 3000 lbs. But that would not be reality as the car could only shed about 200 lbs while still being a true street car with a full interior, AC, etc. So I started thinking about lighter alternative vehicles that could be modified to 1000+ hp and that could put the power to the ground. All-wheel drive went against the grain of light weight due to the added driveline components.”

“One day I joked about putting the Venom 1000 Twin Turbo engine in the back of a Lotus Exige. Then I thought, let’s do a sketch and see what that might look like. When I saw the sketch I stopped laughing and really started to seriously think about this idea. We then had a few more detailed renderings made. And when I saw these drawings, I thought to myself, we can build this car with 1000+ hp and a weight well under 3000 lbs. A mid-engine design like the Ford GT will put the weight of the motor and transmission over the rear tires giving better traction. Design as much down force as we will need to have a car that handles like a kart on the road or race track. At the same time also have a car with the best power to weight ratio possible giving unmatched acceleration. This is how the Venom GT concept was born.”

2013 Hennessey Venom GT Specifications

Performance

0 – 60 mph	2.5 sec.
0 – 200 mph	15.3 sec. (Bugatti Veyron 16.4 = 24.2 sec.)

Power

Horsepower	Adjustable with 3 settings: 800 bhp, 1,000 bhp & 1,200 bhp
Torque	1,155 lb-ft (when set at 1,200 bhp)
Bhp / Weight	767.23 hp per ton or 2.61 lbs / hp
Boost	16 psi (1.1 bar)
Fuel	98 octane RON

Engine

Type	V8
Block	Aluminum
Size	376 CID (6.2 Liter)
Position	Mid Longitudinal
Compression	8.8:1
Redline	7,200 rpm
Forced Induction	Twin Garrett Ball Bearing Turbochargers
Oiling System	Dry Sump Lubrication
Fuel System	Sequential Multi-Port Electronic Fuel Injection

Transmission

Type	Ricardo 6-Speed Manual
Gear Ratios	2.61:1, 1.71:1, 1.23:1, 0.94:1, 0.77:1, 0.63:1
Final Drive	3.36:1

Brakes

Calipers	Brembo 6-Piston (all four corners)
Rotors	15.0 x 1.34 in. Carbon Ceramic (all four corners)

Suspension

Type	KW Variant 3 Adjustable Coil-over (all four corners)
Ride Height	Adjustable by 2.4 inches (60 mm)

Dimensions

Length	15.27 ft. (4,655 mm)
Width	6.43 ft. (1,960 mm)
Wheelbase	110.24 in. (2,800 mm)
Track – Front	63.46 in. (1,612 mm)
Track – Rear	63.15 in. (1,604 mm)

Body

Material	Carbon fiber composite except doors & roof
Type	2-door

Weights & Measures

Curb Weight	2,685 lbs (1,220 kilo)
Dry Weight	2,524 lbs (1,147 kilo)
F / R Balance	37 / 63 (empty); 44 / 56 (with driver & passenger)
Fuel Capacity	18.5 gal. (70 Liter)

Wheels & Tires

Tire – Front	255/30/20 Michelin Pilot Super Sport
Tire – Rear	345/30/20 Michelin Pilot Super Sport
Wheel – Front	9.5 x 20 in.
Wheel – Rear	12.5 x 20 in.

The new Hennessey Venom GT now available in Asia through TEZTA Performance, please contact us at info@tezta.com for pricing and availability.