For Sale at Auction: 2023 Hennessey Venom GT in Carmel, California

Chassis No. HSVVNMF5RD0423017
Venom F5 Roadster No. 05/30

Founded as Hennessey Motorsports in 1991 by John Hennessey outside of Houston, the company spent its first two decades earning its Texas-sized reputation for extracting outrageous power from production cars and trucks. By the late 2000s, however, its ambitions had outgrown the tuning trade. The result arrived in 2010 as the Venom GT, a Lotus-based hypercar that briefly claimed the mantle of the world's fastest production car and announced Texas as an unlikely new capital of extreme speed.

The Venom F5, unveiled in 2017 and placed into production at the newly formed Hennessey Special Vehicles division in Sealy, Texas, in 2020, was conceived as something altogether more ambitious-a clean-sheet hypercar designed, engineered, and assembled in America with the singular goal of exceeding 300 mph. Its name references the highest rating on the Fujita tornado scale, a fitting designation for a machine of such elemental force. Construction centers on a carbon fiber monocoque underpinned by aluminum alloy subframes and clothed in carbon fiber body panels, yielding a curb weight of just over 3,000 pounds-a figure that makes the F5 close in weight to the Aston Martin Valkyrie while wielding nearly twice the power.

That power flows from the Hennessey-developed 6.6-liter "Fury" V8, a twin-turbocharged powerhouse built around a cast-iron block with aluminum cylinder heads, canted titanium intake valves, Inconel exhaust valves, forged steel connecting rods, and dry-sump lubrication. Twin Precision ball-bearing turbochargers with 76-millimeter billet aluminum compressor wheels feed a billet intake manifold with integrated air-to-water intercooling, producing a factory-rated 1,817 horsepower at 8,000 rpm and 1,193 lb-ft of torque at 5,500 rpm. All of it reaches the rear wheels alone, harnessed through a seven-speed automated single-clutch gearbox, a limited-slip differential, launch control, and five selectable powertrain modes-Sport, Track, Drag, Wet, and the ominously named F5.

The resulting performance defies conventional description. Hennessey's independently verified figures include a 2.6-second sprint to 62 mph, with the run from 62 to 124 mph dispatched in just 2.1 seconds and zero to 249 mph achieved in 15.5 seconds. When Evo magazine's Richard Meaden drove the F5 through Texas Hill Country, he marveled that once hooked up, the car "is more in the business of matter transfer than mere mortal acceleration," praising its uncannily linear throttle response, laser-guided front end, and a soundtrack he judged richer and more menacing than Cosworth's finest V12s. A track-focused Revolution variant would go on to claim the production car lap record at the Circuit of the Americas, underscoring that the F5's talents extend well beyond the headline-grabbing pursuit of terminal velocity.

Initially offered exclusively as a coupe, the F5 range expanded in 2022 with the debut of the Roadster, limited to just 30 examples worldwide. Distinguished by a removable exposed-carbon roof panel and subtly reworked rear bodywork, the Roadster added an open-air dimension to the F5 experience while sacrificing nothing of the coupe's structural integrity or staggering performance.

The car offered here is identified by its console plaque as the fifth of those 30 planned Roadsters. Built in Sealy and delivered with a total suggested retail price of $2,650,000, it was specified in striking Banner Green-a vivid hue befitting the F5's extroverted character-over a black and green interior. The original window sticker documents $150,000 in optional exterior paintwork, comprising the $100,000 Exclusive Color Match program and a $50,000 accent livery in Shark Grey, along with paint protection film, hand-polished seven-spoke wheels, and special black brake caliper paint with contrasting green Hennessey logos.

The Banner Green carbon fiber bodywork is set off by an extensive array of gloss-finish carbon fiber encompassing the front splitter, rear bumper and diffuser, side-mounted air intakes, and the single-piece rear deck panel with its milled vents, while further details include butterfly doors, quad titanium exhaust outlets, and a removable roof panel that exposes its carbon weave beneath a glossy clear coat. The car rides on hand-polished forged aluminum wheels measuring 19 inches in diameter at the front and 20 at the rear, featuring stylized H-shaped spokes and titanium lug nuts, wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires.

Opening the butterfly doors reveals a cabin that continues the color scheme with a pair of carbon fiber bucket seats trimmed in black leather with Banner Green "Hennessey" embroidery. Black leather extends across the dash pad and door panels, and exposed carbon fiber spans the sills, console, dashboard, and firewall. Amenities include touchscreen infotainment with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, all commanded via a leather-trimmed multifunction steering yoke, while American and Texan flags proudly adorn the door handles.

Showing just 681 miles at the time of cataloging, chassis 05 remains in essentially as-delivered condition. It is accompanied by its Hennessey-branded Zarges aluminum "treasure chest," which contains a smaller carbon-fiber-lined "jewelry box" bearing a chassis-number plaque and housing a Banner Green key fob whose number plate is crafted from metal sourced from a Space Shuttle. The chest further contains a front tow hook, a battery trickle charger, and the owner's manual, while a Venom F5-branded carbon fiber roof-panel stand and a custom-fitted car cover complete the accompaniments.

With production strictly capped at 30 examples, the Venom F5 Roadster occupies genuinely exclusive territory even among modern hypercars, and this early-production example-resplendent in its bespoke Banner Green livery and sparingly driven-offers open-air access to nearly 1,000 horsepower more than almost anything else on the road. As the culmination of three decades of Texan speed-chasing, and as America's only production hypercar, the Venom F5 Roadster promises its next custodian a driving experience that few machines at any price can hope to approach.