Hennessey’s Venom GT Spyder Bites Into a Speed Record

OK, so maybe it’s a little hyperbolic to set a video of the Hennessey Venom GT Spyder breaking the record for world’s fastest convertible to President Kennedy’s inaugural “Ask not what your country can do for you” speech. Then again, I can forgive the Hennessey team from Texas for getting slightly over-caffeinated watching their 1,451 horsepower Spyder destroy the previous record – held by the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport Vitesse – by over 11 miles per hour.

The open-top Venom GT Spyder clocked a maximum speed of 265.6 mph at the U.S. Navy’s 2.9-mile runway in Lemoore, California, and as you can see from the video, the 7.0-liter V8 was still pulling when driver Brian Smith let off the gas. Ground-level shots in the clip capture the phenomenal speed of the car as it screeches past the camera like one of the fighter jets parked in the background. Hennessey will be releasing an ultra-limited run of three World Record editions Venom GT convertibles – those rare Spyders will take a nice $1.3 million bite out of your wallet.