It’s been 23 years since Motor Trend released that fateful magazine issue featuring John Hennessey’s first offered vehicle: the Dodge Viper Venom 650R. Gracing the cover, the Hennessey-kitted Yellow Viper stole our curiosity as we cracked the magazine open, flipping through to the centerfold. Luckily for us, and anyone who wanted to own one, the car performed even more aggressively than it looked.

Featuring a bored, stroked, forged rod-and-piston 8.4 liter version of the factory 488 cubic-inch Viper V8, power was raised to 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. This engine setup, along with the other upgrades available with the 650R package, pushed the chassis to a record-breaking top speed of 203 miles per hour; the fastest Viper in the world!

The Beginning of a New Breed

John Hennessey has lead a huge path of success ever since his first record-setting runs in his Hennessey Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 in 1991. With every vehicle he and his team have built, he has set the bar higher and higher. So, clearly, for the 30th anniversary of Hennessey, John had to step up to the plate and deliver an entirely new animal from the ground up.

The Venom F5 is engineered to be an unrivaled ‘decathlete’ among hypercars. —   John Hennessey

Completely Bespoke

Although it looks like a mix of Mclaren and Ferrari, this car is 100-percent Hennessey. From the 190-pound carbon monocoque to the LED headlights, this 2,998-pound hypercar has been hand-built to be the “antithesis of the ‘everyday hypercar'” according to John Hennessey. Oh and, of course, to break records.

After a failed 2014 attempt to claim the World’s Fastest Production Car with the Hennessey Venom GT (due to lack of VIN) the new F5 has a VIN and is built to break the current record. And it’s due to break it by a huge margin.

The Key Ingredient

Sticking to its roots, the team has purpose-built an engine that is setting records all of its own. Nicknamed “Fury”, the F5 features a purpose-built 6.6 liter twin-turbo V8 with a 90-degree cross-plane crankshaft.

With a lightweight cast-iron block and a mix of titanium and aluminum internals, this engine is built for power. Featuring an aggressive camshaft profile and pushrod-driven valvetrain, tossing exhaust gasses through its Inconel exhaust system, a vicious exhaust note will sing across the countryside and rattle your bones with every blip of the throttle.

Having 3D printed titanium housings and 76mm turbine wheels, the bespoke high-precision turbos deliver boost through an intercooler sandwiched between the intake manifold and the cylinder heads for maximum efficiency. Pennzoil 10w-60 special formula oil is fed via an ultra-low-profile oil sump to allow for extremely low engine mounting, lowering the center of gravity.

Fueled only by E85, this tech adds up to a mind-numbing, jaw-dropping 1,817hp with 1,193lb-ft of torque and estimated top-speed in excess of 311mph!

With absolutely unheard of power and technology never-before-seen on a road-legal production car, the F5 is out to make history; the true Hennessey way. To hear its amazing V8, check out the video below.