2021 HennesseyBuilding the world-renowned tuning business on the basis of strong family support is definitely the greatest thing that happened to John Hennessey. Back in 1991, he modified his 300GT VR4 daily driver and competed in the Pike Peak's Hill Climb and Nevada Open Road Challenge races. Alongside modifying his vehicle, John also married the love of his life in this same 1991 and together founded a business that changed the face of motorsport tuning.

Shortly after founding the company, Hennessey turned his attention to boosting the performance of the new Dodge Viper. By 1997 he achieved an important accolade with his 650hp Hennessey Viper Venom GTS being the first to break 200mph. Since 2006, the company has included its own test track near its headquarters, and engineers are constantly tweaking and testing vehicles that can go above 234mph, for example, the 1000hp Ford GT and the HPE 600 Corvette C7 that can accelerate to 200mph.

By 2010, the business has built its own hypercar, the Hennessey Venom GT. Based on the Lotus Exige, the 1244hp machine weighs only 2743lb and is powered by a turbocharged Hennessey V8 that allows some pretty fast sprints: the vehicle is capable of accelerating from 0 to 200 mph in mere 14.51 seconds. Furthermore, this particular vehicle managed to set a Guinness record for the fastest 0-300kph time (13.63 seconds) in 2013, then set a new one in 2014, becoming the fastest production vehicle in the world with a top speed of 270.49.

The vehicle then presented another project – the 600hp Hennessey Velociraptor, generating 1000hp. Alongside this hyper track, the Hennessey team continued its work with models like 1000hp ZL1 Camaro – named The Exorcist – raising the profile of the business further still.

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Today, alongside producing upwards of 500 customer cars a year, the Hennessey team focuses on the all-new 100 percent bespoke Venom F5 hypercar. This one generates 1817hp from the Hennessey-exclusive 6.6-liter twin-turbocharged V8 and has a top speed of 311mph.

2021 Hennessey

Source: Hennessey