Lame and Tame: Hennessey Venom GT Test Footage Breaks
By Chad Waite | April 15, 2010
You imagined it and the cracked-out folks at Hennessey have done it again. We’ve been seeing press photos for weeks now, but the official Hennessey test drive video broke yesterday and you can now take in the visceral pleasure from yet another sense – listen to this snake hiss!
In case you’ve forgotten, the Venom GT is the black matte evil twin of the Lotus Elise with 725 horses from a supercharged V8 (not just any supercharged V8 – the LS9 Corvette ZR1 V8). Would it surprise you to know that this wicked engine is pushing pavement in a car the weighs only 2,400 lbs? And if that doesn’t blow your mind, Hennessey plans for 1000 and 1200 horsepower versions in the near future. To tell you the truth, we’re surprised that this mid-engine, rear-drive beast can even move without a cloud of white smoke in tow.
Ok, down to brass tacks. Did the video feel like it was edited by a film-school dropout to anyone else? We get the artistry and the sound, but man! We’re actually feeling bored at some points. The long fades between seeing the car in action felt like an eternity when all we wanted was to see some 120mph powerslides and hear some near-unbridled ponies. At least you do get to hear the noise, and what a sweet noise it is. About 30 seconds in when you hear the Venom come to life is about when we noticed some drool on our keyboard.
But we say boo to Hennessey! Your car is a gorgeous, satanic masterpiece of black carbon fiber, the engine sounds dearer to us than child’s laughter, and yet you put out intro footage like this? For shame! I suppose I’ll have to wait for someone with guts to drive it and a photographer without narcolepsy.
[A.J. Wilcox, YouTube]



