After Wolfgang Dürheimer's son showed his dad the YouTube video of John Hennessey's Venom GT running 270.49 mph one way at Kennedy Space Center, the Bugatti boss reached out to the Texas tuner during 2014 Pebble Beach car week. "I didn't know what to expect," Hennessey recalls, "but he was just the coolest guy. I thought I was just talking to another car guy from Texas."
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And so began an unusual rivalry. "I give Bugatti a lot of credit for setting such a high bar so long ago," says Hennessey, who says the Veyron performance benchmark proved an inspiration.
"I hope he makes his 270 mph in both directions pretty soon so he can enjoy being the fastest," Dürheimer says with a smile before pausing to deliver the kicker. "For three months."
That's a challenge John Hennessey is looking forward to. "It's a very cool validation for our little company," he says. "We look forward to them beating our number. It gives us something to go out and try and leapfrog at one point."
After sharing what we know about the Chiron with Hennessey, what does he think the new benchmark will be? "They are the ultimate sandbaggers," he says of the claimed 0-60 time. "Of course it depends on the tire, and it depends on the surface, but I'll be disappointed if the new Bug doesn't go a 1.9." And top speed? "I'm guessing it goes way past 270 mph, maybe pushing 280."
Given more road than the 3.4-mile runway used for the record run at Kennedy Space Center, Hennessey believes his Venom GT could still challenge the Chiron for top speed honors. He says the Venom GT accelerated from 260 mph to 270 mph in 11 seconds, and even assuming the rate of acceleration tapered off 1 mph every 2 seconds, he calculates that if he had the chance to run it at Ehra-Lessien, coming off the banking and onto the track's 5.4-mile-long straight at 150 mph like Bugatti test drivers do, it could reach 275 or even 277 mph.
"I asked Wolfgang whether I could bring a car over and line it up with a Bugatti," Hennessey smiles. "He didn't say yes. But he didn't say no."
More on the 2017 Bugatti Chiron here:
- 2017 Bugatti Chiron First Look Review: Resetting the Benchmark
- 10 Thing You Didn't Know About the Bugatti Chiron
- Bugatti Chiron by Design: What's New and Why
- Chiron By the Numbers: Taking a Closer Look at the 1500-HP Bugatti
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by cars. My father was a mechanic, and some of my earliest memories are of handing him wrenches as he worked to turn a succession of down-at-heel secondhand cars into reliable family transportation. Later, when I was about 12, I’d be allowed to back the Valiant station wagon out onto the street and drive it around to the front of the house to wash it. We had the cleanest Valiant in the world.
I got my driver’s license exactly three months after my 16th birthday in a Series II Land Rover, ex-Australian Army with no synchro on first or second and about a million miles on the clock. “Pass your test in that,” said Dad, “and you’ll be able to drive anything.” He was right. Nearly four decades later I’ve driven everything from a Bugatti Veyron to a Volvo 18-wheeler, on roads and tracks all over the world. Very few people get the opportunity to parlay their passion into a career. I’m one of those fortunate few.
I started editing my local car club magazine, partly because no-one else would do it, and partly because I’d sold my rally car to get the deposit for my first house, and wanted to stay involved in the sport. Then one day someone handed me a free local sports paper and said they might want car stuff in it. I rang the editor and to my surprise she said yes. There was no pay, but I did get press passes, which meant I got into the races for free. And meet real automotive journalists in the pressroom. And watch and learn.
It’s been a helluva ride ever since. I’ve written about everything from Formula 1 to Sprint Car racing; from new cars and trucks to wild street machines and multi-million dollar classics; from global industry trends to secondhand car dealers. I’ve done automotive TV shows and radio shows, and helped create automotive websites, iMags and mobile apps. I’ve been the editor-in-chief of leading automotive media brands in Australia, Great Britain, and the United States. And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The longer I’m in this business the more astonished I am these fiendishly complicated devices we call automobiles get made at all, and how accomplished they have become at doing what they’re designed to do. I believe all new cars should be great, and I’m disappointed when they’re not. Over the years I’ve come to realize cars are the result of a complex interaction of people, politics and process, which is why they’re all different. And why they continue to fascinate me.Read More
