You might have seen an online video of Texan speed merchants Hennessey running their Venom GT up to 270mph on the 3.2-mile runway at Kennedy Space Center. It’s a remarkable piece of footage, not least because they found someone with the solid brass kahunas to max a 7-litre, twin-turbo, 1244bhp V8 in the middle of a hacked-about Exige. In case you’re wondering, this extraordinary man went by the extraordinary name of Brian Smith.
The Americans claimed Brian’s heroic endeavour as a Bugatti-baiting world record, but a Guinness entry requires an average from two runs in opposite directions and NASA wouldn’t let Hennessey turn around and go t’other way. This was because there was expensive hardware at that end of the tarmac and they didn’t want it damaged by flying bits of ex-Exige. It’s embarrassing to cancel a mission because the lander has been compromised by a burning Vauxhall column stalk.
Read Article