Hennessey has revealed an open-top version of its ballistic Venom F5 hypercar at The Quail during Monterey Car Week. Meet the F5 Roadster, probably the most fun way to ruin your new California hairdo.
And ruin it the F5 Roadster will, given it retains the coupe’s utterly monstrous 1,825PS (1,342kW) 6.6-litre twin-turbo V8 engine. So yes, it’s theoretically possible that like the F5 Coupe, the F5 Roadster will also be able to crack the 300mph barrier, making it the world’s fastest open-topped car. That’s a title it’ll claim from its predecessor, the Venom GT Spyder, which achieved a top speed of 265.6mph.
Unsurprisingly, the F5 Roadster isn’t lumbered with a complicated folding hard-top or a flimsy rag top. Rather, per recent open-top hypercar convention, it has a pop-out carbon fibre panel and a ‘museum-quality’ pedestal on which to set it at home, before you head out for a drive. The carbon platform was engineered from the beginning to be able to accommodate an open-topped variant, with only minor revisions required to the car’s underlying structure.
Also new for the F5 Roadster are new forged aluminium seven-spoke wheels, and a tempered glass viewing window for the ‘Fury’ V8 engine, with vents all around. It’s a more artful and elegant look than that of the coupe, which wears a vented carbon fibre panel over the engine bay. The new engine cover has been engineered to withstand the forces associated with 300mph top speed runs and 540-degree heat.
Though the F5 was developed from the beginning with an open top version in mind, the supplementary model was never guaranteed. It was the coupe’s popularity a year ago at its Monterey reveal that sealed the deal. Following the sell-out 24-unit run of coupes, 30 Venom F5 Roadsters will be built, taking total F5 production to 54 cars. Of course, other variants that we’re not privy to could follow, but for now the F5 Roadster is the latest, with each starting from $3,000,000.
“We created the Venom F5 to be the ultimate expression of a hypercar,” said company founder and CEO John Hennessey.
“The Roadster version takes the Coupe’s speed, exhilaration, and awe, plus a sprinkling of respect-inducing fear, to a new, truly visceral level that brings owners closer to the Venom F5’s extreme performance. Our 1,817 bhp ‘Fury’ engine screams behind the exposed cockpit, with its roar unobstructed by a roof – it is an unmatched automotive experience.”
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