Hennessey Venom F5-M Roadster Adds a Six-Speed Manual to the Equation
Hennessey added a six-speed manual transmission to the Venom F5-M roadster.
There's a new dorsal fin in place of the rear wing, while the buck-wild sports car continues to make 1817 horsepower from its 6.6-liter V-8.
Only 12 copies of the F5-M roadster will be built, with all 12 already sold from a starting price of $2.6 million.
Sometimes 1817 horsepower isn't enough. Sometimes a 6.6-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 powering the rear wheels through an automated single-clutch transmission doesn't provide enough crazy. Sometimes you just need to add a gated six-speed manual transmission to the Hennessey Venom F5-M roadster to create the most powerful manual production car in the world, even if the word production is a loose term in this case.
Under the skin, nothing really changes beyond the transmission. The engine produces a jaw-dropping 1817 horsepower at 8200 rpm, and a peak of 193 pound-feet of torque at 5500 rpm. Unsurprisingly, the gears are staged, so full power doesn't arrive until fourth gear to keep you out of trouble.
What does change is the skin itself, which adds a new 55-inch dorsal fin that stretches from the roof-mounted air scoop to the rear decklid. The interior gets a revised look as well, with the carbon-fiber gear selector sitting snugly in the six-speed gate milled from billet aluminum. Hennessey hasn't announced how the new setup affects the acceleration figures or the top speed.
Hennessey is planning to make just 12 of the F5-M, and unsurprisingly, the whole run has already been sold—each with a starting price of $2.6 million, though that figure likely climbed with the inclusion of one-off colors and carbon-fiber treatments.
According to Nathan Malinick, Hennessey's director of design: "This is a car for bold and brave driving enthusiasts who like their hypercars to thrill with wild power, dramatic design, and an experience behind the wheel that is incomparable to anything else on Earth." We believe him.
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