Hennessey Venom GT – The Controversial Supercar

The Hennessey Venom GT is no-doubt one of the fastest cars available, but it is also one of the most controversial. The automotive community is split into two camps; those that love the car for it’s speed and don’t doubt it’s supercar status and those that hate it and claim it is not a real production car but a highly modified Lotus that belongs in the same category as any modified Viper or Corvette. After the emotions cool, where does the Venom GT really stand?

Hennessey Venom GT

Let’s start with performance, since it is (mostly) black and white. And let’s be honest, 0-60mph is a useless test when comparing cars capable of 260+mph. A good test is the 0-200mph acceleration test. Two good cars to compare it to are the known performance powerhouses; Bugatti Veyron Super Sport and Koenigsegg Agera R. The Veyron SS is often considered the hypercar king, and it hits 200mph from a standing still in 22.2 seconds. The Koenigsegg Agera R slashed that with a 17.68 second sprint to 200mph. Now the Venom GT: 0-200mph in a mere 14.51 seconds. How about top speed? The Veyron SS did an astonishing 268mph. It required about 3.5 miles to do so with a 130mph start. The Venom GT managed 265.7mph in only 2 miles from a stop before it ran out of room to keep accelerating, in which case it would have easily broken 270mph. The Veyron SS is also limited to 258mph. The Agera R has yet to be tested, but I suspect it will do 265-270mph with E85 “cheater fuel”. What you can gather is the Venom GT is no slouch, easily outrunning the top guns.

Bugatti Veyron Super Sport

So is it a real production hypercar worth its million dollar price tag? Or is it an over-glorified “kit-car”? For starters, it definitely doesn’t qualify as a kit-car, the consumer must purchase the chassis and drivetrain from different sources and assemble the car themselves. So is it just a highly modified Lotus that should qualify as a mod-car and not a Hennessey production car, a Lotus with a Chevy V8? To me, it is not so black and white.It is true that the Venom is based on a Lotus. Hennessey originally came up with the idea by joking about putting a twin turbo Viper V10 in a Lotus. The idea transformed into something they wanted to do, but take it to the next level, a real supercar. In that time, they decided it would be easier to start with the Lotus tub because it is already crash certified and a good starting point. This meant they didn’t have to crash test the Venom GT, saving time and lots of money. The downside is, it is registered as a Lotus in many locations really giving it that mod-car label. But how much of the car is really a Lotus? Enough that it should be considered a mod-car? Or is enough of the car Hennessey? The doors, roof and windshield are Lotus. The interior is a slightly dressed up Lotus. And, as talked about already, the center tub is Lotus. The front and rear spaceframe sections are Hennessey, as well as the suspension setup. The rest of the body, while still very Lotus like, is Hennessey spec for size and aerodynamics. The engine is based on a Chevy V8, but is highly modified starting with a stripped block and built up by Hennessey, even including the cylinder liners. Remember, the early Koenigseggs used a modified Ford motor, the McLaren F1 had a BMW motor and Pagani uses a Mercedes motor with no mods done themselves.

Koenigsegg Agera R

Where does the Venom GT stand then? I believe, right in the middle. I understand the cost cutting measures they used (Lotus crash tub and interior), but it still leaves the car looking like a Lotus, registered as a Lotus and, when you are inside, you think you are in a Lotus. Not only that, but despite the cost cutting measures, it is still has a million dollar price tag. For about the same price, Koenigsegg and Pagani offer cars with unique exteriors, unique full carbon chassis and unique very high quality interiors. The car performs amazing, every journalist American and European, that has been in the car or driven it has raved about how insanely fast and exciting it is, yet how civilized the engine and suspension is. There are two cars that I like to judge it by. The first is another newer American supercar, the SSC Ultimate Aero. SSC built a similar American supercar. The Ultimate Aero had a steel space frame, carbon body and was aimed at performance over luxury. What SSC did that Hennessey didn’t though; the entire chassis is unique, the body shape is unique and the interior is unique to the Ultimate Aero. SSC started with a Chevy V8 also, but they decided it wasn’t good enough and designed their own unique block and manufactured it themselves. All things Hennessey skipped to save money, yet the Venom GT carries a $1 million price tag and the SSC Ultimate Aero was $700,000. And from all the data I have seen, the Ultimate Aero is still a faster and quicker car. The second car I like to compare the Venom GT to is a custom mod-car. With the Hennessey Venom GT being so close to a mod car, what is really better about it than building your own mod-car like it? For example, the Ultima GTR is already proven to be insanely fast, setting 0-60 and 0-100mph records as well as lapping Top Gear’s test track quicker than the $2 million, track-only Ferrari FXX. Since the Ultima is a kit-car, you can essentially do anything you want with it. Taking a bare Ultima chassis to a company like Nelson Racing Engines you can get a custom built 1300+hp on pump gas or 1700+hp on race gas Chevy V8, a fully custom top-notch interior built to your spec and, like Jon Olsson did, have a custom body built for you. In the end you will have a car with more power and less weight than the Venom GT with a custom body and interior. For such a project, I would estimate a $300-400k price tag. Far less than what a Venom GT costs.

Jon Olsson’s Rebellion R1k

So where does this leave the Venom GT? I highly respect what they were able to do. The car is insanely fast, quality built and drives great. But it is still not in the same league as Koenigsegg, Pagani or SSC as far as being a true hypercar. The Venom GT is a great car, but anything over $500k for it is not worth it for what you get. If you want a killer performance car, build your own starting with an Ultima GTR chassis. If you want a million dollar hypercar, there are plenty of real options.