John Hennessey Powers Venom F5 to 219 mph in Standing Half Mile

John Hennessey, Founder and CEO of Hennessey Special Vehicles, the Texas-based hypercar manufacturer, has achieved a blistering standing half-mile speed of 219.07 mph driving his Venom F5 Coupe. Recorded via Racelogic VBOX satellite telemetry and backed-up by Dragy performance data, the capability of Hennessey’s ‘decathlete of hypercars’ was underscored by test driver David Donohue, who managed 221.92 mph in the half-mile acceleration test.

As part of the company’s ongoing engineering development program, John Hennessey personally piloted the Venom F5 Coupe for one of the half-mile runs, which also saw a phenomenal acceleration of just 6.81 seconds from 100 to 200 mph. Remarkably, engineers had not set out to achieve such a high speed – they discovered the number when later reviewing VBOX performance data.

John Hennessey, company founder and CEO: “This was my first opportunity to pilot our Venom F5 beyond 200 mph while testing. I did not intend to go so fast, but I was not surprised as our hypercar’s power and acceleration cannot be described in words. Our test driver, David Donahue, may even have achieved a World Record speed for the distance, I’m not aware of any other production car going that speed. We will go back to NASA later this year when its cooler as I expect F5 to be even faster.”

Hennessey’s testing update comes just days after YouTube creator Steve Hamilton pitted a Rimac Nevera and Bugatti Chiron Super Sport against each other in a drag race. Speed data from that test showed the Venom F5 was 15 mph faster than the Nevera (206.77 mph) in the standing half mile and a staggering 28 mph ahead of the Chiron (193.67 mph) over the same distance.

The Venom F5’s achievement came when conditions were far from optimal, compounding the almost casual accomplishment of ‘America’s Hypercar’. The dusty, unprepped surface impeded off-the-line traction, while the 80 to 90-degree Fahrenheit (27-32 Celsius) temperature was far from ideal. The Venom F5 Coupe is powered by a 6.6L twin-turbo V8 engine, named ‘Fury’, which produces 1,817 bhp on E85 biofuel. Power is put to the tarmac via street legal Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R tires.

When the F5 came to market in 2021, Hennessey set out to deliver its customers the ‘decathlete of hypercars’ capable of elite-level performance on the road; when pushing for high straight-line speed; and at the racetrack. In March this year, a Revolution coupe confirmed the Venom F5’s track capability by setting a new production car lap record of 2:10.90 at Circuit of The Americas. The company then turned its engineering focus to a push toward the car’s +300 mph V-max, building on the 271.6 mph set during its development.

With the fastest production car lap record at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and the fastest production car half-mile record now achieved, the Hennessey team can push harder still to break the boundaries of speed and performance. The company has already built and delivered 23 Venom F5 Coupe, Roadster, and Revolution models to customers across the U.S. and around the world with a further 17 orders booking out build slots through 2024 and 2025.

While all Coupe and Revolution Roadster models are sold out, potential buyers can still apply to own a Venom F5 Roadster and Revolution coupe variant at HennesseySpecialVehicles.com. Interested parties can also call Hennessey on +1 979 885 1300, or contact the company’s network of U.S. and international retailers.