Hennessey Venom GT2: The 1500bhp V8 Elise

If there’s one thing John Hennessey knows, it’s how to make one of the world’s most monstrous supercars. But his second version of the V8 Venom GT is just pure insane

Alex Kersten

18 May 2015

What’s not to love about the original Hennessey Venom GT? Based loosely on a stretched, widened and beefed-up Lotus Elise, the carbonfibre supercar is powered by a monumental GM LS9 7.0-litre V8 motor.

Oh, it’s also twin-turbocharged, resulting – in its most potent iteration – in 1200bhp. (That’s 1bhp per 1kg of car, by the way). Madness…

But that’s old news now, boys and girls. Because there’s a new GT2 kid on the block and he’s been hitting the protein shakes. Hard.

Set to make its track debut in 2014, the Hennessey Venom GT2 (pictured) runs a modified version of its predecessor's LS9 motor, which cranks power up to a seemingly implausible 1500bhp! What’s more unbelievable is that all those horses still gallop through the rear wheels only via a six-speed manual transmission or optional seven-speed, paddle-shift auto ‘box.

“What about the numbers?” you ask? While no official figures have been released, it’s a certainty that you can kiss the GT’s 0-62mph time of 2.5sec and top speed of 262mph goodbye. In fact, we’d expect the new GT2 to top out in the region of 275mph for anyone with balls big enough to try.

As for the GT2's styling, it features a new double-bubble roof, new LED lights and upward-opening doors for added 'cool'.

The price for all this powerful swag? The Hennessey Venom GT2 starts at $1.25m (around £780,000) which, considering it'll batter a Bugatti Veyron in a straight line, looks like decent value for money, don't you think?