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2011 Hennessey Venom GT Preview

 
18 10,541 views March 29, 2010

2011 Hennessey Venom GT

American-designed and built supercars are on the comeback, it seems, with the Devon Motorworks GTX making its debut at last August's Pebble Beach Concours and now Hennessey Performance Engineering revealing its Venom GT supercar in its final form for the first time.

Originally announced as far back as 2007, the Venom GT has gone through several iterations while still on the drawing board. The latest and final reveals a car that's likely to prove uncompromisingly fast.

Based upon the Lotus Elise, the Venom GT combines a high-tech, lightweight British chassis with a powerful American V8. Hennessey even stayed true to the Lotus philosophy of “performance through light weight” and made all of the Venom GT’s bodywork and even its wheels out of carbon-fiber.

From a sub-2,400 pound kerb weight to its Corvette ZR1 supercharged V-8 engine dialed up to 725 horsepower (Hennessey will also be offering 1,000 and 1,200 horsepower twin-turbocharged models as well), the vehicle is a recipe for crushing performance. Estimated figures put the 0-60 mph dash at 2.4 seconds, 0-100 mph in a stunning 5.3 seconds, and a face-stretching top speed of 262 mph. Better yet, Hennessey is also claiming a 20 second time for the 0-200 mph-0 task.

Other features include a Ricardo six-speed sequential gearbox driving the rear wheels, Brembo brakes with 15 inch carbon-ceramic rotors, a programmable traction control system and active aerodynamics and suspension systems. Finally, power is put to the ground via massive Michelin PS2 tires at all four corners.

Interestingly, Hennessey has only announced plans for the Venom GT in the Middle East, Europe, Russia, Australia and Asia. Production will be limited to just 10 vehicles per year and the company already has orders for four cars.

[Hennessey]


HI-RES GALLERY: 2011 Hennessey Venom GT




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Comments (18)

  1. By Ken Posted: 9/3/2009 9:54am PDT

    The human race has finally achieved Ludicrous Speed, as foretold in the epic space saga Spaceballs.
    Use the Schwartz!
     
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  2. By  WizardsLore Posted: 9/3/2009 7:40pm PDT

    although i wouldnt buy an american supercar if i had the money.....a $600 sticker price....is hard to beat LOL.
    **
    Also whos stupid idea was it to make a car this powerful and fast without 4wd. That is insane. Even if the power is delivered to the read wheels there will be no traction so you will be replacing the tyres at each traffic light !
     
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  3. By  mac ram Posted: 12/16/2009 6:42pm PST

    Lotus was the first thing that came to my mind when i saw it for the first time. looks good, but it is a complete ripoff from lotus.
     
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  4. By Joe Posted: 12/16/2009 8:00pm PST

    Umm... I have a Lotus Exige S. This is a 100% clone - plus a few inches in length. Are they really claiming it as their own design? I smell a lawsuit if that's the case!
     
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  5. By Paul Posted: 12/16/2009 8:13pm PST

    Totally agree Joe.
     
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  6. By  Mio Navman M305 Posted: 12/16/2009 10:27pm PST

    Hennessey Performance Engineering has announced that their Venom GT Concept will be officially unveiled at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show.Boasting a 1200 bhp V8 engine, of unspecified displacement, the Venom GT is expected to accelerate from 0-60 mph in 2.4 seconds before hitting a top speed of 272 mph (440 km/h). If Hennessey is correct, the Venom GT will easily surpass the Bugatti Veyron's top speed of 254 mph (408 km/h). Should that fail to impress you, Hennessy also says the Venom GT will accelerate from 0-100 mph in 5.3 seconds, 0-150 mph in 8.9 seconds, and 0-200 mph in 14.3 seconds.
     
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  7. fb_1407979985 avatar fb_1407979985 Posted: 12/17/2009 12:59am PST

    Agree with Joe, this is even worse rip off than those Chinese clones...
     
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  8. By kooper Posted: 12/17/2009 5:38am PST

    So how will this work exactly? You pay $600000 for what, a fender maybe if you're lucky?
    I can think of better ways to pee away that amount of money. Think twice before you spend (or throw away) your money on a Hennessey product.
    Google Hennescrewed.
     
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  9. By Layne Posted: 12/17/2009 3:08pm PST

    So not only does John Hennessey rip off customers, now he's stealing designs from other companies. What a stand up guy!
     
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  10. fb_100000275684479 avatar Michael Escobar Posted: 12/18/2009 3:08am PST

    I thought they were using one of their TT Viper units? Now they've designed their own engine? I just wish it wasn't simply an overpowered, bloated Exige. I mean, any first grader could think up a more original concept than that! And 262mph? 0-60 in 2.4? I'd take any performance "specs" quoted by Hennessey with a grain of salt- heck, throw in the whole shaker! I remember seeing their ads in DuPont Registry claiming their modified Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 would do 0-60 in 3.2 seconds, lol! The last Henessey product I liked was the old GTS based Venom 600 from the nineties.
     
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  11. By Agent Posted: 12/18/2009 4:04am PST

    At first I regarded it as a new lotus model. Now I realized it was a remake of it. By hennesey.
     
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  12. By nick Posted: 1/3/2010 1:22am PST

    americans are a waste of time
     
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  13. By  r4 ds Posted: 1/6/2010 9:19pm PST

    Hi Guy's,
    Even if the power is delivered to the read wheels there will be no traction so you will be replacing the tyres at each traffic light !
     
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  14. By Flyologist Posted: 3/29/2010 9:16am PDT

    They say it's based on lotus Elise but it looks to me that they ripped off the rest of the parts of of a porsche carrera gt man americans are sticking to what they do best making bad cars lol
     
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  15. By Terrell Posted: 3/29/2010 10:08am PDT

    Stupid idiots they said the car was going to be based off the exige just like the extrema please read before commenting. It also sounds like some of yall have never really driven a sportscar your concern about traction and tire wear is really stupid if you know how to drive. This comes from a guy that drive a porsche.
     
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  16. By  kumarann Posted: 3/30/2010 6:03am PDT

    The Venom reaches 200 kmph in 20 seconds???...
    Really terrible acceleration, a traction control system has to take almost every attention of the entire speed control while riding the Venom of its higher speed.
     
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  17. By Jon Posted: 3/30/2010 10:23am PDT

    Flyologist i see your point for newer cars....but look back at American Muscle...cant say all of Americas cars were bad...and if you think American Muscle cars are bad...the you sir have never driven one.
     
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  18. By Kenny Posted: 10/25/2010 11:53am PDT

    Are you guys completely retarded? I swear the bias here just because this is an American car is outrageous.
    First of all, it is SUPPOSE to be an Exige "clone" as it is what John Hennessey intended. I believe there is a video or an article somewhere saying that he consider Lotus chassis considerable one of the best for a race car so he decided to use it with the permission from Lotus. I mean for crying out loud, this car is even built in Britain. Law suit, lmao you guys are fcken stupid.
    As for traction? Well if it has barely DOT legal street tires (almost racing slicks) then with a proper launch it will hit those numbers. Super difficult? Yes, but I believe still possible.
    @kumarann
    Learn to read. 0-200 MPH not KPH. I believe it's 5 seconds quicker to 200 than a Bugatti.
     
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