Because more wheels mean more grip and more acceleration
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos… John Hennessey? Could America’s favorite supplier of hyper-horsepower be about to make the giant leap into space? No, of course not, it’s just an outlier of his imagination. Introducing the Hennessey Deep Space, a six-wheel drive, four-seat all-electric hyper-GT. Because as John Hennessey told TopGear, “I wanted to do it before anyone else beat me to it.” We approve him.
With 50 percent more tire, it’s a look at how to improve acceleration when the contact area of your tires isn’t enough. Although someone can probably comment on downward pressure per square centimeter of rubber, but oh well. “I’ve been building some of the world’s fastest accelerating vehicles for decades, but they’ve always been performance-limited by mechanical grip. Six-wheel electric drive is the solution’, says John.
The Hennessey Deep Space is also luxurious
Deep Space is about more than g-forces, but this is Hennessey we’re talking about, so speed is obviously important. “It won’t have the top speed of the Venom F5,” Hennessey says, “but it should be able to hit 200mph and go from 0 to 100 like a drag racer.” The Deep Space is part of a 10-year plan that will see three all-new models see the light of day. The Venom F5 is the first in this series.
The Deep Space sits on a unique carbon fiber chassis with carbon fiber body panels. The cockpit is accessed through a pair of giant gull-wing doors. An equally gigantic battery pack should provide a range of almost 1,000 kilometers. The power of the engines – one per wheel – is expected to exceed 2,000 horsepower. Everything is bigger in Texas, as it turns out. According to a feasibility study, everything should be achievable.
The car is built in Texas
The car will be built at Hennessey’s existing plant in Sealy, Texas, but has a strong British twist as Delta Cosworth will help develop the electric powertrain. Hennessey has a relationship with Delta that dates back to the Lotus Elise-based Venom GT. This car broke some records in 2013; you may have heard of it. EV specialist Delta was acquired by Cosworth earlier this year.
The whole project started with a sketch on a bank statement in 2019. The car should finally appear in 2026. Hennessey wants to build 105 copies of the Deep Space for an estimated 2.66 million euros each, without taxes. We are curious about the answer from Tesla.
