Hennessey's Venom F5 Revolution Sets New Lap Record At Circuit Of The Americas

What do you think? With its Venom F5 Revolution, Hennessey broke the lap record at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, the company announced yesterday. The Revolution defeated the previous record-holder, the Czinger 21C, by 0.43 seconds, clocking it at 2:10.90.

The Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution achieved this feat while wearing street-legal, track-focused Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires. Not only that, but the F5 outperformed the fabled P1 hybrid from McLaren, which had previously finished the 3.41-mile track in 2:17.12 seconds, by almost 7 seconds.

The 6.6-liter, twin-turbo V8 engine of the F5 produced 1,817 horsepower and reached speeds of up to 193 mph on the fastest section of the track. The driver, David Donohue, a former winner of the Le Mans class, felt 1.59g of lateral force during cornering and 1.61g of force from the carbon ceramic Brembo brakes.

While Venom's power isn't higher than that of a standard F5, it does have several chassis and aerodynamic upgrades that increase its track capability. Brian Jones, a former lead engineer on the AMG One and current full-time employee at Hennessey, oversaw the Revolution project, which included giving the basic Venom F5 coupe a full-width carbon rear wing, a wider splitter and back diffuser, altered suspension tuning, and increased cooling.

Although the standard coupe is sold out, Hennessey reports that there are still a few construction slots left for the Revolution and Venom F5 Roadster. But the Sealy-based company plans to generate even more headlines later this year when it takes the F5 to speeds of more than 300 mph.

During development at the former NASA Shuttle Landing Facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, a non-Revolution model reached over 270 mph. In order to hopefully beat Bugatti's Chiron SuperSport 300+'s 2019 record of 304.8 mph, the company is currently looking for a suitable runway or public road with enough space.