Manual-Gear Hennessey Venom F5 Prototype Continues Track Work with 2,031 Horsepower

Hennessey keeps refining a singular Venom F5 long after the first public appearance, and this one sits apart from every other car built under the same badge. Maverick, the company’s bespoke division, assembled this example as a one-off project and fitted a gated six-speed manual, something no other F5 carries today.

The car first appeared during last year’s Monterey Car Week. Eight months have passed since then, yet development has not stopped after the presentation. Hennessey still runs the machine on its private track because the engineering package was not complete when spectators first saw it.

A recent clip puts John Hennessey in the car together with test driver David Donohue. The footage offers a closer look at the transmission during real driving, and the gearbox itself draws immediate attention. Each movement through the gate produces a sharp metallic note. John Hennessey described the sound by comparing it to the slide movement of a pistol, which gives a clear idea of the mechanical feel inside the cabin.

The drivetrain underneath stays brutal in simple terms. A revised 6.6-liter twin-turbocharged V8 delivers 2,031 horsepower, and every bit of output travels only to the rear axle. No front-wheel assistance enters the picture here. Rear-wheel-drive remains the full layout, which changes the tone of the whole project because manual input now controls an output figure most road cars never approach.

David Donohue takes the car to 156 mph, or 251 km/h, and fourth gear is still not done. The needle reaches that mark before the ratio tops out, which shows how much distance remains inside the gear. The speed builds fast, though the clip keeps the focus more on control than spectacle.

Hennessey altered parts of the package while testing continued. Automatic rev-matching entered the transmission during later work, and brake hardware also received updates. Those changes arrived after the first showing, which explains why the company kept the car away from final delivery status.

This Venom F5 does not follow the usual route taken by modern hypercars. A gated manual attached to 2,031 horsepower asks for total precision each time the lever moves. Even before final sign-off, the project already stands as the only manually-built F5 in existence.

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