Hennessey Performance Engineering has been gifted a mighty title for its birthday.
Taking to a Texan Navy base’s airstrip last month for its 25th anniversary, the American tuner wound out its latest creation, the Venom GT Spyder, to a world-record snaring 427.4km/h.
Revealed last year, the Spyder is a pop-roof version of the regular Venom GT. Lying behind Brian Smith, the man who piloted the record run, was the car’s twin-turbo 7.0-litre LSX V8 that produces 1082kW and 1745Nm. Crazily, its power’s channelled through a six-speed ’box to the rear wheels only.

The Spyder steals the record from Bugatti’s Veyron Gran Sport Vitesse, which claimed to be the world’s fastest convertible after hitting 408.84km/h Volkswagen Group’s proving grounds in Ehra-Lessian, Germany, in 2013.


Three examples of the “World Record edition” Venom GT Spyder will be built. At an eye-watering price of US$1.3 million before tax.