Hennessey Test Driver Crashes Venom F5 At 250 MPH On NASA Runway, Walks Away Uninjured

Photo: Hennessey

They say fortune favors the bold, but a bold Hennessey test driver must’ve had more than just good fortune on July 1 when the Venom F5 prototype they were driving lost downforce at 250 mph and crashed. Luckily, the driver was able to walk away without any injuries.

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According to a statement released by company founder John Hennessey on Instagram, the team was testing a new aerodynamic setup for the 1,817-horsepower Venom F5 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida when the incident occurred. The cause for the loss of downforce has not been determined yet, but the team is evaluating the aerodynamic data to find out what led to this spectacular failure. Hennessey said,

“I am very grateful to our team of engineers and technicians who have designed and built an amazingly strong vehicle. We are also very thankful to the first responders and staff at KSC for their quick response to ensure everyone’s safety.”

Current Hennessey Venom F5 owners need not worry about the same thing happening to them the next time they push past the 250-mph mark, as this was a new experimental aerodynamic setup on a prototype vehicle. You should still be fine to push onward to the Hennessey-claimed 300-plus-mph top speed, though that figure has yet to be achieved in real life.

The Kennedy Space Center has been the stage for many manufacturer’s top speed runs thanks to its 2.81-mile-long runway that has paved overruns at each end. Bugatti even held an event last May for owners to experience life at 250 mph in their own Chirons at the Kennedy Space Center.

Hennessey has not released any images or video of the incident or its aftermath, so we have no way of knowing the extent of the accident and damage, but walking away from a 250-mph crash is not something many people on this plane of existence can say they’ve done. The supercar powerhouse is not standing down from its pursuit of mind-bendingly fast cars — in fact, Hennessey quoted John F. Kennedy in saying, “We don’t do these things because they are easy. We do them because they are hard.”