“As Far As I Am Aware

In 2007, Road & Track Magazine invited Hennessey Performance to participate in a shootout between some of the world’s fastest supercars. Find out which car could accelerate from 0 to 200 mph in the shortest amount of time. Some of the heavyweights competing where the Mercedes McLaren SLR, Lamborghini Murciellago, Ruf Porsche 911 Twin Turbo and the 1001 bhp all-wheel drive Bugatti Veyron 16.4.For our entry, the Hennessey team brought the company’s latest Venom 1000 Twin Turbo Viper. Several runs were made by each car on the 2.9 mile long runway at Lemoore Naval Air Station in central California. “At the end of the Road & Track test, we were very pleased with the results and the Venom taking first place over the Veyron”, says John Hennessey. “As far as I am aware, we have the only car that has ever beaten a Veyron in an independent, head to head test of vehicle performance. He continues, “I thought that we could possibly add a bit more power but had concerns about being able to put that power to the ground via the Viper front-engine rear-wheel drive platform.

My next thought was to reduce weight… try to lighten the Viper from 3500 lbs to under 3000 lbs. “One day I joked about putting the Venom 1000 Twin Turbo engine in the back of a Lotus Exige. Then I thought, let’s do a sketch and see what that might look like. When I saw the sketch I stopped laughing and really started to seriously think about this idea. We then had a few more detailed renderings made. 3000 lbs. A mid-engine design like the Ford GT will put the weight of the motor and transmission over the rear tires giving better traction. Design as much downforce as we will need to have a car that handles like a kart on the road or race track. At the same time also have a car with the best power to weight ratio possible giving unmatched acceleration. The Venom GT uses a highly modified Lotus Exige chassis.

The manufacturer, Hennessey Performance Engineering, claims the modified chassis utilizes components from the Lotus Exige, including but not limited to the roof, doors, side glass, windscreen, dashboard, cockpit, floorpan, HVAC system, wiper and head lamps. Therefore this is a tuned car and not a production car from the Lotus factory. Venom GT Spyder was created as an open top version of the Venom GT. Having decided to order a Venom GT, Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler approached Hennessey in Autumn 2011 and asked if an open-top version could be created. This involved structural changes which added 30 pounds (14 kg) to the curb weight. Tyler’s was the first of five cars scheduled delivered for the 2013 model year. On January 21, 2013, the Venom GT set a new Guinness World Record for an average 0-300 km/h acceleration time of 13.63 seconds, thus making it the quickest modified production car in the world. In addition, the car set an unofficial record for 0-200 mph acceleration at 14.51 seconds, beating the Koenigsegg Agera R’s time of 17.68 seconds.

The ground clearance and angle of approach/departure are also practically unchanged compared to the Vito with an internal combustion engine. The Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell is therefore equally suitable for facilities with steep ramps and approaches. In place of the usual four and six-cylinder engines plus peripheral units of the Mercedes-Benz Vito, the engine cover of the Vito E-Cell conceals the electric motor and its ancillary systems. The electric motor, a permanent synchronous unit, develops a continuous output of 60 kW and a peak output of 70 kW. Maximum torque is 280 Nm. As the full torque is inherently available right from the start in electric motors, the Vito E-Cell delivers dynamic performance at the familiar, high level of modern diesel engines. In view of the typical operating profile for the Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell, and in the interests of maximising the operating range of the batteries, the van's top speed is limited to 80 km/h. Power is transferred to the front wheels via a single-speed transmission. This efficient unit was likewise developed specifically for the Mercedes-Benz Vito E-Cell.