Hennessey Performance Engineering has a knack for setting world records. The American tuning firm likely has Guinness on speed dial at this point, and for the company’s 25th anniversary, it celebrated the only way it knows how — by blowing the roof off the record book.
On March 25, Hennessey’s Venom GT Spyder officially became the fastest convertible in the world after prancing down a Texas runway at 265.6 mph. Independent speed testing gurus from Racelogic were on hand to verify the run, and the car was bravely piloted by Brian Smith, director of the Ford Performance Racing School.
“2016 marks the 25th anniversary of Hennessey Performance,” said Hennessey founder John Hennessey. “I thought that this would be a special way to celebrate 25 years of making fast cars faster. I’ve wanted to test the top speed of our Venom GT Spyder, without the roof, ever since our coupe ran 270.4 mph on the Space Shuttle landing runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in 2014. This was a great way to validate the technical excellence of our car which includes high-speed stability with an open roof.”
The previous convertible record of 254 mph was set back in 2013 by the Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse.
To reach its hair-rustling top speed, the Venom GT Spyder features an incredible 7.0-liter twin-turbo V8 that pumps 1,451 horsepower and 1,287 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels through a seemingly indestructible six-speed gearbox. If the massive top end wasn’t enough, get a load of this — the droptop Venom can sprint to 60 mph in just 2.4 seconds and will reach 200 mph from a standstill in just than 13.0 seconds. Eat your heart out, Bugatti.
The Hennessey Venom GT is currently the fastest production car in the world with a top speed of 270.4 mph.
Volkswagen’s newest EVs in China are making its American and European models look unusually conservative.
With Xpeng’s help, VW has introduced 800-volt charging and advanced urban driving assistance. The new VEGA technology package brings its locally developed vehicle platforms and CEA electronic architecture under one umbrella. Bloomberg reports that Volkswagen intends to update VEGA every three months. Western buyers can find pieces of that package, but not the whole thing in a Volkswagen.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?