World's most powerful manual road car due at FOS

Move over Ferrari: Hennessey Venom F5-M enters production with over 2,000hp in Evolution spec

First Ferrari, now Hennessey. The manual is truly back in fashion, it would seem, however curious its route to production ends up being. But where the 12Cilindri Manuale calls upon the inventive makeover of its base car’s existing dual-clutch transmission, this Venom F5-M proudly possesses a good ‘ol fashioned open-gate manual with three, traditional pedals.

Making its Goodwood Festival of Speed debut later in the week, this appears to be the existing, 12-off, $2.65m F5-M Roadster welcoming in the new aero and active suspension of the latest Venom F5 Evolution upgrades. Something that isn’t immediately earth-shattering on the surface should prove the opposite in reality, of course; volunteering for sole responsibility of shifting gears in a 6.6-litre twin-turbo hypercar with 2,031hp is not a task anyone takes on lightly. The car you see here also signifies the F5-M replacing, um, itself as the world’s most powerful manual road car.

“It’s the most all-consuming driving experience we’ve created,” says founder and CEO John Hennessey. “A gated six-speed manual puts the driver completely in control, while the open-top design brings the Fury V8 sound directly into the cockpit. The noise, the feel, and the power delivery are raw and unfiltered.”

This first production example belongs to a UK customer, too, so there’s a chance its Fury will one day need nursing through the Dartford Crossing tailbacks. Its public debut will see it slither up the Goodwood hill at the hands of racer Alex Brundle. He’ll be among the first to experience snicking a “precisely weighted” short-throw lever through a “billet aluminium gate with a crisp, machined-metal clink,” according to the highly evocative bumf. We’re promised “sophisticated traction control and engine management systems” to ensure rowing your own gears with so much power isn’t a total leap of faith.

Driver-focused it may be, but the owner of car #1 has also carefully raided the cupboards of Hennessey’s customisation department – called ‘Maverick’, of course – specifying exposed purple carbon bodywork and anodised gold accents in the process, most notably inside, while the badge on this Venom’s nose is 24-carat.

Gold is also deployed for the complementary US and UK flags on either side of the 1,400mm-long dorsal fin. The special relationship looks alive and well on here, at the very least.

While the Venom F5-M Roadster is limited to 12 units, those with bulky enough wallets can rest assured they’ve not missed out. 'The introduction of the Venom F5-M represents a significant evolution for the Hennessey hypercar range,' we’re told. 'Following its launch, both the manual transmission and the updated chassis architecture will be made available across other F5 models, enabling customers to specify Coupe and Roadster variants – as well as track-focused Revolution models – with the six-speed manual configuration.'

Whether it’ll still hold its crown of the world’s gnarliest manual by then is another matter entirely…