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Hennessey isn’t known for sensibility. The Texas tuners take already-powerful Chevrolet Corvettes, Ford Mustangs, and Mopar muscle cars and give them asphalt-cracking power. However, the Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution is proof that they can do more than tune; they can build a world-class hypercar. Moreover, the Hennessey Special Vehicles team smashed the COTA production car lap record, outrunning the McLaren P1 in the process.

The 1,817-horsepower Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution hypercar took the production car lap record at COTA

The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, is no stranger to high speeds. After all, the track hosts Formula 1 (F1) and MotoGP motorcycle racing every year. However, supercar owners and builders sometimes take the opportunity to scorch the circuit’s surfaces and clip its apexes when F1 isn’t dominating the day. 

It makes sense, then, that Texas-based tuning company and performance car marque Hennessey would pit its hypercar against the dynamic track. And that’s exactly what John Hennessey’s speed-seeking Special Vehicles team did. They hit COTA with the Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution, 

The Hennessey Special Vehicles team celebrates at COTA after breaking the production car lap record with the Venom F5 Revolution.
The Hennessey Special Vehicles team celebrates at COTA | Hennessey Special Vehicles

Better yet, John Hennessey asserts that the team had no intention of breaking any records. Instead, they wanted to see how well the Revolution would handle the course. However, the Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution broke the COTA production car lap-time record with a telemetry-verified 2:10.90. Even more impressive, the F5 Revolution out-lapped the swivel-eyed  McLaren P1 by nearly seven seconds. 

John Hennessey seemed proud and patriotic regarding the Venom’s on-track performance. “Seeing the Venom F5 take the production car lap record at our home circuit has been an important part of our journey with the F5. We don’t do these things because they are easy, we do them because they are hard. The process of pushing our American hypercar to the limits makes our team of engineers, designers, and technicians better while also delivering an enhanced product and experience to our clients.”

Check out the video below for a look at the Venom F5 Revolution tackling COTA and breaking the record.