Hennessey Performance Engineering (HPE), a North American aftermarket tuning firm specializing in the design and production of high-performance accessories for production sportscars, recently unveiled a concept car of its own: the Venom GT. Though still only just a concept - the model was designed by British automotive designer Steve Everitt - the Venom GT looks related to Lotus's own Exige, albeit more aggressive and with a wider stance. If developed, the car would incorporate Hennessey's potent Venom 1000 Twin Turbo 8.5-liter V10 powerplant (sourced from Dodge's Viper) into a light weight mid-engine chassis weighi
ng under 2,700 lbs. The car is also claimed to attain a slippery 0.39Cd rating when aided by its 'VenomAero' rear wing.
With a power to weight ratio of just 2.7 lbs per bhp, Hennessey estimates that the Venom GT could attain 0 to 100 km/h times in less than 2.5 seconds and a 0-300 km/h time of around 14 seconds. "The Venom GT will be a much more engaging sports car to drive by challenging the driver with 1000+ horsepower in a chassis that is nearly 1500 lbs lighter than the Veyron," said John Hennessey, the company's founder.
"The company already has existing Venom 1000 Twin Turbo clients interested in ordering the lighter, mid-engined Venom GT," he added. "Right now are taking a serious look at building 2 concept cars that could be shown to the public sometime in 2009. If there is enough demand we may consider doing a very limited production run of the Venom GT."
Source: cardesignnews