The Hennessey Venom GT Spyder has officially become the world’s fastest convertible after reaching a phenomenal 265.6mph!
The feat was a celebration of 25 years of Hennessey and what a celebration it was. Brian Smith, director of Ford Permormance’s Driving School, was the man behind the wheel of the 1,451bhp Venom GT Spyder. The convertible was unleashed along the US Navy’s 2.9-mile long runway in Lemoore, California, where it hit a top speed 11mph faster than the previous record holder, the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse. Darren Fouts, Air Ops Officer at the base witnessed the event, with the record run certified by Racelogic’s tech director Jim Lau.
“I’ve wanted to test the top speed of our Venom GT Spyder even since our coupe ran 270.4mph on the Space Shuttle landing runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in 2014,” explains John Hennessey. “This was a great way to validate the technical excellence of our car which includes high-speed stability with an open roof.”
The Hennessey Venom GT Spyder in action.
‘Technical excellence’ is certainly a fitting description of the Hennessey Venom GT Spyder and indeed the Coupe. Boasting 1,451bhp, 1,287lb ft. of torque, a 0-60mph time of under 2.4 seconds and an equally impressive 0-200mph time of 13 seconds, the Spyder really is an absolute monster.
Hennessey are set to build three ‘World Record Edition’ Venom GT Spyders to commemorate the feat, each costing slightly over £1 million ($1.3 million plus tax). Don’t worry if you miss out, though, because he’s working on something even quicker.
Here’s to another 25 years of stupendously fast cars!
Leave a Reply