For a $3 million hypercar prototype with an experimental aerodynamics package, it’s not enough to test on a regular road.
So when performance vehicle maker Hennessey set out to prove its latest development, it went with the king of all practice strips: the 15,000 foot space shuttle runway at the Kennedy Space Center.
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Hennessey’s Venom F5 is described as a bespoke hypercar, and it carries with it an 1,800 HP engine.
In a test of the prototype, the vehicle was reportedly performing a fast acceleration, gunning from zero to 250 miles per hour in 4,000 feet. But that's when things took a turn, according to Hennessey Performance CEO John Hennessey, who said in an Instagram post that the Venom suddenly lost downforce, causing a loss of control where the vehicle flipped.
Motor Trend speculated that the problem was “likely” with the aerodynamics package itself, saying that’s how a high speed vehicle would typically lose downforce, though nobody with Hennessey has confirmed that theory.
The good news is that the test car’s driver was able to walk away from the accident. It seems the only damage outside of the vehicle itself was to the runway. Reports say that the auto company was hit with a bill for $700+ for nominal damage and cleanup of hydraulic fluid.
Hennessey thanked his engineers for building “an incredibly strong vehicle.”
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