Hennessey Venom GT: The 725bhp V8 Lotus Elise

while Shelby may have one foot inthe gravenot two it’s obvious that the Texas-based tuner is stepping up to take over where ol’ Shel left off.  For one thing, perhaps the most reputable tuner when it comes to extracting huge, reliable horsepower out of domestic carsalong with a few foreigners NissanThey’ll sell you a Camaro with a 725bhp tweaked LS9 supercharged V8 out of the ZR-1, and it’s such a clean conversion that anscanner will have no problem pulling codes.  Oh, and it’s got a warranty.  Howabout a Cadillac that will do 186mph in the standing mile?  Or maybe a 1000+bhp twin-turbocharged Dodge ViperA Grand Cherokeethat runs high ten’s in the quarter mile with atwin-turbo 426cid Hemi?  No problem!

But all of these tweaked production cars pale in comparison to John’s latest brainchild, which has been inthe works for almost as long as I can remember.  Introducing the Hennessey Venombespoke mid-engine carbon-fibre supercar powered by an obscenely powerful motor.  The basicingredients are this: take  one flyweight mid-engine Lotus Elise, which normally has a 190bhp Toyotaengine, mix with equal parts tunedstretch, poke, and slam, and what do you havemid-engined carbon-fibre rocketshipthe base engine. Let me reiterate: a Lotus Elisewith 725bhp.

Now, as far as the Hennesseycomparison goes, it makes a lot of sense.  Shelby spent a lot of time in the 80′s making Turbo Mopars go really fast, and these days Hennessey spends a lot of timemaking boring domestics like the Lincolngo really fastHennessey’sMaxB00struns 13.08s in the 1/4 mile with minimal boltBut going back even further, to thestart of Shelby: the Cobra was, at it’s core, a lightweight British chassis stuffed full of a gigantic AmericanThe Venomthe exact same thing, only brought up to moderntimes: a tiny British chassis mated to an epic American V8.The regular which is expected to clock in around $600kuses the same engineversions of the Camaro6.2L supercharged V8gets a larger intercooler, biggerinjectors, a smaller supercharged drive pulley and larger crank pulley for more boost, and intake and exhaust modifications.  The changes are good for a whoppping 725bhp and 741lb-ft of torque2,500rpm!) on 91 octane pump gas.  If that much power in a 2,400lb car isn’t insane enough for you,Hennessey has two other engine choices to wet your whistle.  There’s a twin-turbochargeddesigned torun on 93 octane that makes 1,000bhp and 900lb-ft, and if you really aren’t concerned with your lifespan there’s a 109-octane race-gas version of that motor with 1,200bhp and 1,100lb-ft.  I’d imagine that much power is largely academic

At this point the question is, what’s been done to keep this thing pointed in a straight line?  Well, the basic Elise body/chassis is lengthened, widened, and stiffened at the Lotus factory in England before being shipped to Texas.  The carbon-fibre widebody was developed usingComputationaltesting to provide maximum downforce at speed along with the adjustable front and rear spoilers.  Thesuspension is fully adjustable, and 15″ carbon-ceramic brakes with 6 piston front/4 piston rear rotors bring things to a halt, hopefully in time.  The Ricardo 6-speed manual transmission has a driver-adjustable traction control system with integrated launch control so you don’t spin around backwards when you punchthe gas.  And finally, eachcome with free admission to a driver training course so that you’renotover your head.