Hennessey Performance Engineering has a different kind of holiday tradition. Most years, CEO John Hennessey sees how fast a car will go with a Christmas tree strapped to the roof.
This year, Hennessey organized a new run up to 183 mph with his wife's Audi RS 6 Avant. The high-performance wagon was driven by Ford Performance Driving School senior instructor Spencer Geswein. The tree was a 6-foot Douglas fir, in you case you were wondering.
This was actually the second attempt of 2021. Hennessey already tried the stunt earlier this month with a Porsche 911 Turbo S, but wasn't satisfied with the tree-ladened car's 175-mph top speed.
Christmas tree reaches 183 mph strapped to a Hennessey-tuned Audi RS 6 Avant
The Porsche's top speed was slower than the 181-mph top speed achieved by a 1,000-horsepower Hennessey HPE1000 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk in 2019. Prior to that, the Hennessey team got a Dodge Challenger Hellcat to hit 174 mph with a Christmas tree strapped to its roof.
Aiming to beat the Trackhawk's record, Hennessey switched to the RS 6 Avant, reasoning that the wagon would be less affected by the extra drag of a tree on the roof. The Audi wasn't stock (this is Hennessey, after all). The RS 6 Avant's twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 makes 591 hp from the factory, but Hennessey claims his wife's car has 800 hp.
While 183 mph is pretty fast, it also demonstrates the impact of drag at these insane speeds. Audi quotes a 190-mph top speed for the stock RS 6 Avant (when equipped with optional carbon-ceramic brakes), and Hennessey claims the modified version can reach 205 mph unladen. Still, if you want to see the world's fastest Christmas tree, check out the full video above.
