{"id":7805,"date":"2014-03-03T12:19:19","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T20:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/?p=7805"},"modified":"2014-03-03T12:19:19","modified_gmt":"2014-03-03T20:19:19","slug":"this-car-has-a-serious-need-for-speed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/blog\/auto-insurance\/this-car-has-a-serious-need-for-speed\/","title":{"rendered":"This Car Has a Serious Need For Speed"},"content":{"rendered":"
Move over, Bugatti, there\u2019s a new king of speed in town. This past Valentine\u2019s Day, the Hennessey Venom GT<\/a> set a new world speed record for two-seater sports cars by reaching a road-eating top speed of 270.49 mph. The previous record, held by the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, was clocked at 267.80 mph. Spoiler alert: If you have to ask about this car\u2019s car insurance rates<\/a>, you probably couldn\u2019t afford it.<\/p>\n Conducted at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Texas-based supercar rocketed down the Center\u2019s 3.2-mile Space Shuttle landing runway, shattering the previous record, even faster than the space shuttle\u2019s touchdown speed (225 mph).<\/p>\n With a heart-pounding 1,244 horsepower engine under the hood, racing driver\/test engineer Brian Smith pushed the outer limits of speed, and was still accelerating when he ran out of road and had to hit the brakes.<\/p>\n Although, the Venom GT claims the title of “World’s Fastest Production Car” for the U.S., it\u2019s not officially recognized by Guinness World Records. Guinness requires two runs “over a flying kilometer in opposite directions\u201d, then takes an average of the two speeds. Unfortunately, there isn\u2019t enough roadway at Kennedy to meet these conditions, and NASA wasn\u2019t able to authorize a second run. And, speed thrill seekers are already lined up to buy their own Venom GT \u2013 out of the initially scheduled 29-unit run, all but four have been sold.<\/p>\n The Venom GT at a glance<\/strong> Hennessey Performance owns and operates Lonestar Motorsports Park \u2013 a 1\/4 mile dragstrip located on the grounds. The track and series of private roads are used to test and tune their vehicles as well as to give clients demonstration rides in a safe and legal environment. Lonestar is also open to the public 2 \u2013 3 times per month and plays host to area enthusiast events and track-days.<\/p>\n
\nHowever, Guinness currently recognizes the Venom GT as the world\u2019s fastest accelerating car from 0-300 km\/h \u2013 186.4 mph — which it reaches in an amazing 13.86 seconds.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Base price – $1.2 million
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Powered by a twin-turbocharged, V8 engine
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a01,244 horsepower
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a00-200 mph \u2013 14.51 sec.
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Each car is custom-ordered
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Takes six months to build<\/p>\n