FEATURE: Hennessy Venom GT
Do you think you've got the stones to drive this around a race track?
Whenever people talk about cars and how fast they go, they usually talk about horsepower, 0-60 times, quarter-mile times and engine size.
What is rarely ever discussed is simple power-to-weight ratios.
The power-to-weight ratio is basically the calculation of how powerful an engine is versus how heavy a vehicle is. Obviously, the greater the power and the lighter the vehicle, the faster the vehicle is going to go. A perfect example of vehicles with great power-to-weight ratios are motorcycles, the Ariel Atom and the Lotus Elise.
Now if you could liken the Lotus Elise to a quick sprinter, the Hennessy Venom GT can be compared to a sprinter on steroids, cocaine and 6 bottles of Monster being chased by a jaguar that is hungry.
It looks bigger than it really is. Good luck driving this if you're 6'4" or taller.
How can I make such a bold analogy? It’s simple – the Hennessy Venom GT has the frame and body of a Lotus Elise (which weighs about 2,400 lbs) with the engine of a supercharged 6.2 liter LS9 V8 (the same engine in the Corvette ZR1). More specifically, the power-to-weight calculation for this car is about 745.69 kW/1,071 kilos, or 0.69kW/kg.
To put things into perspective, a Formula 1 car has a power-to-weight ratio of 0.93 kW/kg and a Suzuki Hayabusa has a power-to-weight ratio of 0.3051 kW/kg. The Hennessy Venom GT lies somewhere in-between. For anyone that knows cars and motorcycles, you know that being within the range of those two vehicles puts you into an elite class of speed.
Translation: you are going to need a helmet, fire proof suit, safety crew and God when you drive this car around the track.
What is the biggest engine we can fit in this car? I know - let's get that Corvette engine sitting in the back!
For more information, you can visit the official website for the Hennessy Venom GT online. You can also view the original article I read this morning on DUB daily that nearly made me pee myself after I read the stats about the car.
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