Hennessey set to produce a Veyron slayer

Hennessey is not a company well known in Australia but their reputation in the States is well known by car enthusiasts. Hennessey specialise in taking factory performance cars from mild to wild with the development and fitting of purpose built tuning parts. They have waved their tuning wand over a number of America’s best known performance cars, including the recently released Dodge Viper SRT10 and Ford GT. They are not shy about dabbling with Euro exotica either with the Audi R8 being the latest Euro supercar to receive the Hennessey once over.

Perhaps their wildest creation to-date has been the Viper based Venom 1000 Twin Turbo SRT with 1000hp it is the fastest and most powerful limited-edition street car in the world. You can see it in action in the video below.

The big news and the eventual point of this article is that Hennessey have released an image of what will be their first concept vehicle to-date. Penned by British designer Steve Everitt the Hennessey Venom GT could be seen in the flesh as early as 2009 and if the reaction to it is positive a limited production run will follow.

This is no ‘mamby pamby’ all show and no go concept either. The numbers are big on the horsepower side and low in reference to all-up weight, enough to frighten the life out of a Veyron owner in all honesty. Powered by a twin-turbo V10 similar to the Venom 1000, power will be in excess of 1000hp (Veyron 1001hp) and weight will come in under the Veyron by an estimated 1500lbs!!! Think 0-100kmh in 2.5 seconds and 0-300kmh in…eh hem, 14 seconds and yes that’s quicker than the Veyron – just.

Two prototypes are expected to make an appearance in 2009. Press release follows for those wanting the gory details.

HOUSTON, TEXAS - Hennessey Performance Engineering today announced that it is introducing the company's first concept car - The Venom GT.

Penned by British auto designer, Steve Everitt, the Venom GT would incorporate Hennessey's potent Venom 1000 Twin Turbo Viper V10 powerplant into a light weight mid-engine chassis weighing "under 2,700 lbs". Power would be run through a 6-speed transmission or optional sequential gearbox.

With a power to weight ratio of just 2.7 lbs per bhp Hennessey estimates that the Venom GT could attain 0 to 100 km/h times in less than 2.5 sec. and a 0-300 km/h time of around 14 seconds. Company founder, John Hennessey, is careful to point out that the Venom GT is not being built as a 'Veyron Slayer'. Hennessey point out, saying, 'The Veyron is an ultra fast and ultra luxurious grand touring car which also happens to be quicker and faster than any other road car, except for our Venom 1000 Twin Turbo SRT which beat the Veyron earlier this year from 0-200 mph. The Venom GT will be a much more engaging sports car to drive by challenging the driver with 1000+ HP in a chassis that is nearly 1500 lbs lighter than the Veyron.'

Hennessey said, 'The company already has existing Venom 1000 Twin Turbo clients interested in ordering the lighter, mid-engined Venom GT. "Right now are taking a serious look at building 2 concept cars that could be shown to the public sometime in 2009. If there is enough demand we may consider doing a very limited production run of the Venom GT.'

If the Venom GT goes into production, it would be built at the company's facility at Lonestar Motorsports Park which is located just west of Houston, Texas.

Hennessey Performance Engineering (HPE) specializes in designing, testing, manufacturing and selling high-performance parts and services for the Dodge Viper SRT10, Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, Chrysler 300C SRT8 and Dodge Magnum SRT8 as well as other high performance and exotic brands such as Bentley, AMG Mercedes and Porsche. HPE is completing the construction of the company's new 30,000 square foot engineering and manufacturing facility at the company's Lonestar Motorosports Park - a 1/4 mile dragstrip located 45 minutes west of Houston, Texas. HPE is the only aftermarket tuning firm in North America that owns and operates its own vehicle testing track / proving grounds. The company will move to its new facility at the end of 2007.