[CAR ENGINE ROARING]
MATT FARAH: What has driven us
to transform the car into a
violent space capsule whose
abilities require several
acres of empty tarmac?
You can't measure certain cars
today by their 0-60 time.
That's a carrier pigeon
in the age of iPhones.
The new ruler requires
a runway.
It's the same reason we went
from the Wright Brothers to
NASA, from canoe to
aircraft carrier.
Because we, as people,
have a drive to take
something and master it.
And although we've conquered the
gasoline engine, extracted
every last iota of explosive
power, in the modern day we
are simply limited
by adhesion.
[CAR ENGINE REVVING]
MATT FARAH: Going for a Guinness
record is not as
simple as it sounds.
All the right pieces must fit
together all at once.
For the team at Hennessey,
the process began
almost five years ago.
If there's one thing Hennessey
knows, it's horsepower--
so that wasn't a problem.
Its twin-turbo, 7.0-litre V8
makes 1,244 horsepower and
over 1,000 pound
feet of torque.
[CAR ENGINE REVVING]
MATT FARAH: Second pull, 995
at the wheels, so that's
medium boost.
So it sounds like it's breaking
up because at the top
of fourth gear he's spinning
the tires on the dyno.
JOHN HENNESSEY: Exactly.
MATT FARAH: So you're getting
wheel spin in fourth at
150-miles an hour.
JOHN HENNESSEY: Yeah.
The traction control, obviously,
is turned off.
I mean, the car came in from the
pouring rainstorm and the
tires are soaked in water
and the [INAUDIBLE]
are wet.
MATT FARAH: So even with wheel
spin, that's not enough
[INAUDIBLE].
JOHN HENNESSEY: We may not be
able to get it to hook-up on
the dyno today.
Hopefully it's dry on
the runway tomorrow.
MATT FARAH: Yeah.
Finding a balance of
aerodynamics and plenty of
down force without ruining the
Lotus' already attractive
shape is no small task.
So many factors, all of which
come together on one day, are
the culmination of a man's
five-year-long dream to build
the fastest road car on earth.
This road missile, though it
may be street-legal, is
basically a race car.
A no-frills merchant of death,
ready to remind you that
nothing will ever
feel fast again.
PHILIP ROBERTSON: No
modifications, no alterations,
and it has to be a production
car with some factory
modifications at maximum.
And the tires also have
to be DOT standard.
The attempt must be supervised
by a national or international
testing agency for motorized
vehicles, which we have here.
The VBox 3I GPS unit is going
to be used to give us the
accurate speed of
these vehicles.
And we've had the circuit
approved as being flat and
level, so there's no
advantage there.
To ensure there's no advantage
for wind, we have to take a
final figure from an average
of two runs in opposite
directions down the same
circuit, just so that we have
a completely legitimate
attempt.
The existing record for the
fastest 0-300 by a production
car was set by the Koenigsegg
Agera R at 14.53 seconds.
We've got an extremely fast car
behind us, so I'm excited
to see how this goes.
I've got a sneaking suspicion
this is going to go well
today, but that's all
I'm going to say.
JOHN HENNESSEY: The city of
Houston and the airport
system's kind enough to
let us have access to
one of their runways.
We have basically an
8,000-foot-long runway that
we're able to run about 7,500
feet on that runway.
And we're here today to see what
our seventh production
Venom GT is capable of running
from zero, potentially up to
250 miles per hour.
[CAR ENGINE REVVING]
[CAR ENGINE ROARING]
-13.18, 0-300K.
So we're a second and a half.
PHILIP ROBERTSON: He can still
go 14-14.2 in the opposite
direction and still beat it.
-Yeah.
[CAR ENGINE REVVING]
[CAR ENGINE ROARING]
JOHN HENNESSEY: I think
on our 0-300K we
were around 14 seconds.
So that would average out about
a second faster than the
existing record.
DON GOLDMAN: Philip,
would you agree?
PHILIP ROBERTSON:
I would concur.
That's a new Guinness
World Record.
[APPLAUSE]
DON GOLDMAN: That's great.
JOHN HENNESSEY: Partner.
PHILIP ROBERTSON: That
was stunning.
Congratulations, Don.
DON GOLDMAN: Thank you.
PHILIP ROBERTSON: Phenomenal.
JOHN HENNESSEY: Let me
tell you something.
The Venom GT's a fast
car-- one of the
fastest cars in the world.
And today it's the fastest from
0-300K, thank you, Guinness.
But none of that would be
possible without this guy
right here.
Don Goldman is the man behind
the scenes that
makes the engine go.
DON GOLDMAN: Thank you, John.
And Kevin who helped us.
JOHN HENNESSEY: Absolutely.
PHILIP ROBERTSON: You guys, for
the record, all of that
fuel, tire, smoke, everything,
all of that work, that grit,
that determination, that
teamwork, is actually
producing something
quite special.
JOHN HENNESSEY: Just think of
the margaritas that are going
to get sacrificed tonight
in celebration
of this great feat.
MATT FARAH: The world of hyper
cars is a small one.
The Agera R is the invention
of a mad scientist.
The Porsche 918, the product
of obsessed engineers.
And the Wira, the modern
equivalent of a
sculpture by Leonardo.
The Venom GT isn't like that.
It's a thrill ride-- the
fastest, scariest, purest,
hyper-exotic money can buy.
We said it last time and we'll
say it again, all John
Hennessy wanted to
do was go fast.
And according to Guinness,
he now builds the fastest
accelerating car on the planet.