An all-American hypercar requires a true pro.
When we first saw the Hennessey Venom F5 prototype in the flesh at Geneva last March, we knew it'll be special. After all, this is the all-American, Texas-built hypercar that could snag the top speed world record from the Koenigsegg Agera RS. Call it a friendly rivalry between Hennessey and von Koenigsegg. However, the only Venom F5 the world has seen so far is a prototype. Now it's time to get the production version ready to go.
To make that happen, Hennessey Special Vehicles has announced it has hired John Heinricy to serve as the hypercar's chief engineer. If you haven't heard of Heinricy, aka "Heinrocket", then we're telling you now.
He spent 38 years as an engineer and executive at General Motors, rising to be head of the GM Performance Division before he retired. He's also a kick-ass race car driver, having won 15 SCCA national championships and completing over 1,000 laps at the famed Nurburgring. He is also the first person to complete a sub-8 minute lap of the Green Hell in a production four-door sedan. Respect. Mad respect.
"We are absolutely thrilled to have John Heinricy leading our engineering team on our Venom F5 program," said John Hennessey. "His experience as an automotive engineer / OEM executive and racer/test driver make him uniquely qualified to be our chief engineer and to ultimately break the 300 mph barrier." This isn't the first time Heinricy has worked with Hennessey.
Previously, he served as a consultant for the Venom GT, specifically working on that hypercar's chassis, suspension and overall dynamics. His contributions played a big role in the Venom GT's Guinness World Record for the fastest road legal car from 0-186 mph. This time, however, he's working down in Texas full-time. There's a lot of work to be done because John Hennessey aims to have his Venom F5 go for that new top speed record sometime in 2019.
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