Hennessey Venom GT is World's Fastest Production Car at 270 MPH, Beat Out Bugatti Veyron (VIDEO)
The Hennessey Venom GT is the fastest production car in the world, according to its maker, beating out the previous recordholder, supercar the Bugatti Veyron. The 1,244-horsepower Venom GT claimed the record by going 270.49 mph on a NASA space shuttle landing strip in Florida.
Hennessey Performance's Venom GT raced down the Kennedy Space Center tarmac in Cape Canaveral on Valentine's Day and managed to beat out the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport's record of 269.86 mph in 2010. For owner of the Texas shop John Hennessey, that classifies his creation as the fastest in the country.
However, Guinness World Records, which classifies, organizes and keeps many world records, refuses to classify the Venom GT as a "production car." For that certification, 30 units must be manufactured for public consumption— Hennessey only plans to make 29, with 11 already sold. Strangely, Guinness didn't have a problem giving the production certification to the Venom GT for the other record it broke: fastest car to 300 kph (186 mph), which it managed at 13.63 seconds.
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Part of the reason for Guinness refusing the Venom GT's record is because it wasn't able to do two runs back and forth on the tarmac, the way they require. Hennessy told the Jalopnik blog that it took him two years to negotiate getting on the Kennedy Space Center track, and NASA wouldn't allow him more than one run.
Hennessey feels the Venom GT's speed "would have been pretty much the same," even if it had been tried twice.
In addition, Hennessey feels the top speed for the Venom GT is really 280 mph— he had to break because the 2.9 mile tarmac wasn't long enough to sustain more speed, according to Top Gear.
The Venom GT was modeled after the Lotus Exige, weighs 2,743 pounds, boasts a 7.0 twin-liter turbo V8 engine, six speeds and 1,244 horsepower.
