One unfortunate fact about most hypercars and supercars today is that you’d be hard-pressed to find one with a manual transmission. It’s expected, of course, given the level of performance you’re able to extract from them, which makes rowing through gears manually superbly tough. However, not every automaker has abandoned the idea of creating a manual-geared hypercar, and Hennessey thinks the market is big enough to justify making one. Officially, the Venom F5-M Roadster is the most powerful car in the world to come with a manual transmission. Best of all, it’s not just a regular manual gearbox, but instead, it’s a 6-speed gated transmission.
This arguably makes it more of a driver’s car compared to Hennessey’s “regular” Venom. Alas, if you’re somehow considering buying one, Hennessey only built 12 examples of the Venom F5-M Roadster, and all of them have already been sold. Additionally, each model will cost you an eye-watering $2.65 million. It’s a shame, since Hennessey has made it harder for most regular folks to experience their otherworldly 6.6-litre twin-turbocharged ‘Fury’ V8 engine. This engine outputs an amazing 1,817bhp, and all this power goes exclusively through the rear wheels. It’s then paired with the aforementioned, astounding, 6-speed gated manual transmission.
An Old-School Supercar (With New-Age Performance)
As you can imagine, handling this much power with a manual shifter will be quite a challenge. On the bright side, Hennessey’s engineers have made specific tweaks for their new Venom F5-M to be more controllable. In particular, the engine and gear ratios have been fine-tuned to balance you between absolute power and maximal acceleration, while also keeping this under control. So, believe it or not, they’ve made 1,817hp somewhat possible to tame, even with a 6-speed manual and a gated shifter. Aside from the added tactility and engagement that you’d get with a manual gearbox, the Hennessey Venom F5-M still needs to break lap records.
With that in mind, there are additional aero improvements, most notably the gigantic 55-inch dorsal fin. This fin runs all the way from the roof-mounted air scoop to the trailing edge of the rear deck, aiding you when it comes to high-speed stability. This new dorsal fin also looks very fetching with this bespoke livery that Hennessey’s design team have worked on. The coloured lines and stripes contrast beautifully against the exposed, raw carbon fibre, which takes some inspiration from motorsports. Hennessey is quite serious about making every single Venom F5-M Roadster unique, one-of-a-kind, going so far as deleting colours from the configurator.
A Wow Factor And Gorgeous Design To Die For
Given that Hennessey including a manual transmission is the star of the show, you’d get to see more of it once you step inside. That gear shifter is a work of art, combining aluminium as well as some bits of carbon fibre. Best of all, it’s then housed within a gated shifter, which you don’t really see outside of old Ferraris and Lambos, as well as the Audi R8, allowing the Venom F5-M Roadster to join a very exclusive club. Elsewhere, to give you that extra bit of sensory overload, the gated shifter is milled from a billet of solid aluminium, ensuring that you can hear and feel those *clicks* every single time you change between gears. It’s those little things that count!
Hennessey’s obsession for attention to detail extends to the rest of the interior, too. From the horizontal air vents to the jet-fighter-inspired toggle switches, in addition to how they placed the gear shifter as close to you as possible, it’s clear that Hennessey wants to make your drive a bit more theatrical. Inside and out, Hennessey’s Venom F5-M Roadster is visually striking, alongside being able to offer drivers a level of engagement that auto gearboxes simply can’t match. As expensive and as exclusive as the Venom F5-M Roadster might be, here’s hoping that more supercar makers consider bringing back manual transmissions for their cars, too.
