American Sports Car Hennessey Venom Becomes World's Fastest Car After Recording A Speed Of 270.49mph

After many years of dominating the top spot, it seems the end of Bugatti Veyron's reign is now here.
In an exclusive report by BBC's car site TopGear, it has been revealed that the Hennessey Venom has hit 270.49mph(435.31 km/h)at the Kennedy Space Center, the highest speed ever recorded by a production car. That's 0.63 mph more that the 269.86mph(431.07 km/h)recorded by the  Bugatti Veyron in June 2010.
The 1,244bhp Venom clocked its record-breaking figure in the hands of test pilot Brian Smith on February 14 on Florida's Space Shuttle landing runway.


According to the official VBox(standard vehicle Testing Systems that measures speed and other  figures), the Venom - powered by a 7.0-litre twin-turbo GM-sourced V8, remember - accelerated from 20mph to 120mph in just 7.71 seconds, pulling a maximum 1.2g of longitudinal acceleration as it went.

Perhaps even more impressive, the Venom went from 120mph to 220mph in a fraction under ten seconds. That's extraordinary acceleration, even for a car that holds the 0-200mph record.

However, despite going quicker than the Veyron Super Sport, the Venom can't call itself the fastest production car in the world, at least not in the eyes of Guinness. To qualify for a Guinness speed record, a car must make two runs, one in either direction, with the two top speeds averaged out for the official time.

In 2010, the Veyron SuperSport hit 265.96mph on its upwind leg, and 269.86mph on its downwind leg. Neither figure, as you'll notice, is as rapid as the Venom's 270.49mph. So why didn't Hennessey do another run in the opposite direction? Blame the space dudes.

"We wanted to run in both directions, but the NASA guys wouldn't let us. Getting into NASA isn't easy. It was a two-year process," company boss John Hennessey told Top Gear. He confirmed the car would have been mechanically fine for a return run, and that the single run didn't take advantage of any significant wind assistance. "The morning was relatively calm, about a 3mph quarter-crosswind. If we'd run in both directions, the result would have been pretty much the same."

Even if the Venom had run in both directions, Hennessey says it couldn't have qualified for a Guinness record. "For whatever reason, Guinness made a decision that to qualify [for a production car world record], you have to build 30 units," John told us. "We're only making 29 Venom GTs. To date we've built and delivered 11."

Despite all the hitches from Guiness book of world records, Hennessey is pleased with the result. "Since the inception of the Venom GT, it's been a dream of ours to build the fastest car. There are lots of different definitions, different metrics, but for us, when people talk about being the fastest, it's about being the absolute fastest. So it was a good day. We achieved the goal. No other road car has broken 270mph..."

About comparisons, Hennessey doesn't see the Venom GT as a Bugatti Veyron competitor. "They're completely different cars," he says. "We aim not just to be the most powerful, but also the lightest. That thing [the Veyron] is a Bentley GT, a comfortable car." (Lol at that thing.)

See more photos of the Hennessey Venom below:

WORLD'S TOP TEN FASTEST CARS
1. Hennessey Venom GT: 270 mph (434 km/h)
2. Bugatti Veyron Super Sport: 269 mph (431 km/h)
3. Koenigsegg Agera R: 260 mph (418 km/h)
4. SSC Ultimate Aero: 257 mph (413 km/h)  and the 9ff GT9-R: 257 mph (413 km/h)
5. Saleen S7 Twin-Turbo: 248 mph (399 km/h)
6. Koenigsegg CCX: 245 mph (394 km/h)
7. McLaren F1: 240 mph (386 km/h)
8. Zenvo ST1: 233 mph (374 km/h),
9. Pagani Huayra: 230 mph (370 km/h)
10.Gumpert Apollo and Noble M600: both at 225 mph (362 km/h)

Side note: (Moral of the story)Nothing lasts forever, including been on top of the ladder. While at the top, make use of the opportunity wisely, and treat well those you meet on your way to the top.