Siapa... Hennessey

It’s not everyday an aftermarket tuner embarrasses one of the biggest car-makers in the world, but that’s exactly what happened on February 14, 2014.

At the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Texas, a Lotus Exige modified to the point where it could be officially considered an entirely different car, roared to 435.31km/h on the same 5.15km runway NASA used to land none other than the Space Shuttle.

In doing so, it dislodged the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport from its perch as Fastest Production Vehicle in the World.

The car was called the Venom GT and created by a Texas-based conglomerate of horsepower addicts otherwise known as Hennessey Performance.

Founded by John Hennessey in 1991 – an entrepreneur who left the world of environmental enterprise to become one of the world’s best-known aftermarket tuners – Hennessey has modified more than 10,000 cars and trucks in the 33 years since it opened, some of which would be stalking roads in Australia.

Based in Texas, USA, its specialty is turning already grunt-packed vehicles such as the Chevrolet Corvette and Camaro, Dodge Challenger, Cadillacs and, of course, the Ford Mustang, into mutant, power-packed, fire-spitting road cars with more horsepower than multiple Melbourne Cups.

Hennessey’s enormous US workshop is based on a 142-acre property and comprises 30 dedicated bays for working on vehicles, 24 hoists, two permanent dynamometers and laser-guided wheel alignment machines. There’s even a design studio and dedicated research and development lab, assisting HSV – that being, Hennessey Special Vehicles.

One of its greatest resources, however, has got to be its own private proving ground. At any time of the day, or night, Hennessey has access to its own drag strip and, soon, it’s own 2.25km-long road course.

The brand has built cars for celebrity petrolheads such as Jay Leno, Michael Jordan and Steve Tyler of Aerosmith fame.

That’s because Hennessey has had so much success tuning cars that it’s started making cars from the ground up, such as the record-setting Venom GT but also now the Venom F5 supercar.

Powered by a 6.6-litre, dry-sumped, twin-turbo V8, the F5 produces no less than 1355kW and 1617Nm and, even more startlingly, is rear-wheel-drive. The Venom F5 can be all yours for around US$2.1m (A$3.1m).

Hennessey claims the car is capable of 500km/h but is yet to prove it. That would make it the fastest road-going production vehicle in the world, and a figure so difficult to beat that carmakers like Bugatti might not even bother to challenge it.