Automotive

Hennessey Venom GT sets new production car acceleration world record

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The Hennessey Venom GT that set a new world record by going from 0-300 km/h in 13.63 seconds
The Hennessey team with the record-breaking Venom GT
The Hennessey team receives their Guinness World Record for fastest accelerating production car
The Guinness World Record certificate for the world's fastest accelerating production car
The Hennessey Venom GT that set a new world record by going from 0-300 km/h in 13.63 seconds
The Hennessey Venom GT prepares for an acceleration run
The Hennessey Venom GT at Ellington Airport
The Hennessey Venom GT on an acceleration run at Ellington Airport
The Hennessey Venom GT prepares for an acceleration run
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American tuning house Hennessey Performance Engineering is crowing after its own production car, the Hennessey Venom GT, set a new Guinness World Record for the world’s fastest accelerating production car. To claim the record, the vehicle completed two runs in opposite directions within one hour of each other that averaged out to a time of 13.63 seconds to go from 0-300 km/h (186.4 mph).

The acceleration runs were piloted by John Kiewicz and conducted southeast of Houston, Texas, on an 8,000 foot-long runway at Ellington Airport on January 10, 2013. The first run, with the assistance of a 6 km/h (4 mph) tailwind, saw the supercar accelerate from 0-300 km/h in 13.18 seconds, while on the second run into a 10 km/h (6 mph) headwind the car took 14.08 seconds to reach the same speed.

This averages out to 13.63 seconds, which was more than enough to claim the world record from the Koenigsegg Agera, which held the previous record of 14.53 seconds.

The Hennessey team with the record-breaking Venom GT

Powered by a 7.0-liter (427 cubic inch) V8 producing 1,244 hp and 1,155 lb-ft of torque, the record-breaking two-seater, real-wheel-drive vehicle is street-legal and tips the scales at just 1,244 kg (2,743 lb) – or to put it another way, the vehicle boasts a power-to-weight ratio of one horsepower per kilogram of curb weight.

The Venom GT also set a new unofficial acceleration record of 0-200 mph (322 km/h) in 14.51 seconds that bested the Koenigsegg Agera R’s record of 17.68 seconds by 3.17 seconds and shamed the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, which takes 22.2 seconds to hit the 200 mph mark. However, this record remains unofficial because Guinness only recognizes runs made in km/h.

With Hennessey only planning to build 29 Venom GTs, and one third of these having already been sold, such stomach churning acceleration will only be experienced by a select few who can also spare the car’s US$1.2 million asking price.

Video of the Guinness World Record-setting runs can be seen below.

Source: Hennessey Performance Engineering

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8 comments
Clay Jones
I used to live across the highway from this airport, back when it was an air force base. Nothing this quick ever landed there. Mostly it was C-130s and F4s (replaced by F16s), which were cool but pedestrian in comparison. Does insurance cover eyeball resetting?
solutions4circuits
I don't see what all the fuss is about. My bone-stock Yamaha R1 motorbike has 1HP/kg.
Can't recall what the Ariel Atom was....
christopher
They started at the wrong end. 10 people in the photo, and nobody checked the weather reports for wind direction... They would have gotten 13.24s average if they'd taken that into account. (13.85s into 4mph headwind, then 12.62 with the 6mph tail)
Daishi
@solutions4circuits
That 1HP/kg is without rider weight though. After adding a person the power to weight is around 40% higher with the Venom. That's a pretty impressive margin to hold over something like a literbike.
With a 170 lb rider the bike would need to be around 270 HP to match it.
Nic Wood
A car based on an Elise is hardly a "GT".
Layne Nelson
I think they need to review the numbers. I see 8 tenth's not 8 seconds faster than Bugatti. A push rod Chevy in a Lotus hardly compares to the Veyron.
Wayne Day
I HAD A 1966 GTO IN THE 60'S THAT RAN THE QUARTER MILE IN 13.12 SEC. @ 118 MPH SINGLE CARB 389 CID AND IN WEIGHED 3600 LBS . AND STREET LEGAL NO MODS ???????????
Eddie Grace
if you read the article carefully you will see the venom gt does it in 14.51 compared to the veron 22.2 , thats around 8 seconds not tenths of seconds