Hennessey Venom F5 Prototype Crashes at 250 MPH on Space Shuttle Runway
The Hennessey Venom F5 prototype was testing new aero, but wound up flipping over and leaving its literal mark on the pavement.
The Hennessey Venom F5 debuted a few years ago as a truly bonkers hypercar from the Texas-based tuner, one that sports some amazing specs. Those include the fact that the lightweight, carbon fiber-bodied machine packs a twin-turbocharged 6.6-liter V8 making a whopping 1,817 horsepower and 1,192 pound-feet of torque, a $2+ million dollar price tag, and a low planned production run of 24 units. The Hennessey Venom F5 was originally targeting a top speed of more than 300 mph as well, though a recent test didn’t exactly end well for one prototype.
According to Click Orlando, a car crashed in early July while conducting straight line testing on a space shuttle runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which it later discovered – via a public records request submitted to Space Florida – was a Hennessey Venom F5 prototype testing a new aerodynamics package. The crash occurred at the newly crested Launch and Landing Facility (LLF), which was recently opened up for public for vehicle testing with approval from Space Florida.
According to the report, the Hennessey Venom F5 was traveling at high speed down that piece of tarmac when it actually left the ground, flipped over, and landed on its roof – an impact so severe that it caused minor damage to the runway, which wound up costing HP a total of $712.70 to rectify. Amazingly, the driver wasn’t hurt and managed to walk away, however. Five days later, Hennessey posted some information about the crash on its Instagram page, outlining exactly what happened.
“On July 1, our team was testing a new experimental aerodynamic set up on our factory-owned Venom F5 prototype at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC),” company founder John Hennessey wrote in the post. “The prototype Venom F5 performed strongly accelerating from 0-250 mph in just under 4,000 ft. when the vehicle lost downforce on the runway causing the driver to lose control. Most importantly, our test driver walked away from the incident without injury. Pushing the limits of speed, performance, and physics has never been easy. Our team will evaluate the aerodynamic data to determine the root cause of the issue.”
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“I am very grateful to our team of engineers and technicians who have designed and built an amazingly strong vehicle. We are also very thankful to the first responders and staff at KSC for their quick response to ensure everyone’s safety. As President Kennedy once said, many years ago, ‘We don’t do these things because they are easy. We do them because they are hard.’ We appreciate the support of our customers, dealers, team members, and fans as we continue our journey.”
Photos: Hennessey Performance
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