The upcoming Hennessey Venom F5’s engine has once again metamorphosed, but it looks like it’s for the better since now it gets over 1,800 hp.
When we last heard from Hennessey on the status of the Venom F5 hypercar, we were told that it would have a 7.6-L twin-turbo V8 engine with 1,600 hp, 1,300 lb-ft of torque, and 24 psi boost. We also found out thanks to Jalopnik that the engine is actually a heavily modified LS crate engine and not the purely unique design that Hennessey claimed.
But who cares? It’s big, has twin turbos, and makes a Bugatti Chiron weep with envy. Testing was supposed to begin in January of 2019, and since then we haven’t heard much about it.
Fast forward to today and the prototype engine has once again been modified. Gone is the aluminum block in favor of a forged steel engine block. It’s also shrunk down to a total displacement of 6.6-L with twin-turbos now operating at 23 psi. It still uses pushrods, still has aluminum cylinder heads, and has titanium intake valves as well as a titanium exhaust.
You might be concerned to think that shrinking numbers might mean less overall power. But this is Hennessey--anything and everything they do results in more power, not less.
Hence the new engine now makes 1,817 hp. Torque is a bit down at 1,197 lb-ft, and the engine’s redline is at a towering 8,000 rpm.
“The F5 engine has a very broad powerband with over 1,000 lb-ft of torque available from 2,000 to 8,000 rpm,” said company founder John Hennessey in a statement, “Give it the full throttle and it’s the most furious engine that we have ever built. Thus, we gave our F5 engine a special name: 'Fury'.”
Other interesting tidbits include a unique intake manifold and an air-to-water intercooler placed between the plenum chamber and the cylinder heads resulting in cooler inlet air temperature from the twin-turbos. It also has a multi-stage dry sump oil system--a necessary addition given the extreme temperatures this engine will operate at.
The first F5 is set to begin road testing later this year, with 24 units planned overall. Each one sells for $1.6 million and 12 US allocations have already been sold.