Hennessey Venom GT and Koenigsegg Agera R

[ds.raikkonen]

In the midst of all the Formula 1 launches, I am still surprised to see there is no topic related to these two cars, which have trumped the Veyron SS recently (at least in terms of sheer acceleration figures, for now). Especially the Venom GT. Nought to 200mph in around 15 sec, that's almost 3 and 7 sec quicker than the Agera R and the Veyron SS! Staggering. 1244hp from the 'twin-turbo' Chevrolet LS9 V8 motor in what is basically a Lotus Exige. The ultimate power to weight ratio monster. Don't think it can get any better than this. Well, unless someone decides to fit the same motor in an Ariel Atom with giant wings! Also, I heard Mr. Hennessey mention the Viper's V10 motor with twin-turbos in the car during an interview, what was that about?
Also, the Agera R's 'Triplex' suspension is reall a thing of beauty, has any other manufacturer got something similar? Anti-squat behaviour without using anti-squat geometry! It is really a car with NO compromises, they even use honeycomb aluminium in the carbon chassis. The Agera R made me think of the McLaren F1 in terms of attention to detail.
Ultimately, which one is better?
http://www.venomgt.com/

http://www.koenigsegg.com/models/agera-r/

[Nando]

One is a kit car the other a proper productions car. There´s no comparison.

[autogyro]

The Hennesey is a Lotus converted to a hot rod.
I find the performance figures stated for it strange, if you watch the video of its record run you will observe that the gearshifts are slower than a London Transport bus.

http://zerocarbonista.com/category/tran ... transport/

This conversion made by an associate of mine makes far more sense and holds a record also.
Soon EVs will overtake IC performance.
There are already EV performance cars with over 1000hp.

[ds.raikkonen]

One is a kit car the other a proper productions car. There´s no comparison.

It IS a production car mate (that's why Guinness recorded the run at all). The yearly production numbers for both these hypercars are similar However, the Agera R is definitely much more discrete, more complex. The length to which Mr. Koenigsegg has gone to achieve the desired performance level is staggering. But still, if we talk about 0-200mph numbers, you can't ignore the Venom GT.

The Hennesey is a Lotus converted to a hot rod. I find the performance figures stated for it strange, if you watch the video of its record run you will observe that the gearshifts are slower than a London Transport bus......Soon EVs will overtake IC performance. There are already EV performance cars with over 1000hp.

Would nt call it a hot rod, most of the components are different from the Exige, only the wind shield, air conditioning, interiors and doors are common, it is a foot wider and 18" longer than the Exige. Yeah, the gearshifts were very slow! It has a Ricardo 6-speed manual gearbox, imagine what it would do with a dual-clutch unit! Although that would take the weight up. Coincidentally, it weighs exactly as much as the enigne's max power output-1244kgs and 1244bhp, the power to weight ratio of that thing even beats superbikes, let alone supercars! I prefer ICE to EV, as do many others I am sure. EVO UK conducted a test and will give the details in the March 2013 issue.

[autogyro]

The Riccardo 6 speed layshaft box is the only one currently available that can reliably deal with the over 1000bhp of these IC supercars.
By comparison current electric supercars either have no gearbox or can give comparable performance with one or two ratios.
No dual clutch layshaft stepped ratio geartrain would be reliable in a 1000 bhp plus IC supercar and it would be massive.

The pathetic gearshift speed of the Riccardo 6 speed is the only way to keep it in one piece for any length of time in a sic. 'production car' of this type.
Fortunately any buyers of the type will only use the cars for poseing anyway.
So a couple of runs up an airfield driven by the goons of top gear is all they have to worry about and they only criticise EVs.

Got a much better geartrain idea for both electric and IC supercars.

[MadMatt]

It was discussed here : http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... 5&start=15

Yea well what is the next step then ? Putting a dragster engine in a normal chassis and make 20 of them to have your name on the book ? When you look at the Agera R there is just no comparison. And for the record, 0-300 in 13s has been done years and years ago on a car with its original engine (tuned of course, but keeping the original architecture). Some of you probably remember the exvitermini website with those crazy skylines doing 0-300 runs. Here is one of the runs :

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNvkA0zfymY[/youtube]

Complete version here :

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH7NYOwxJ68[/youtube]

Oh yes the engine is not stock so what about that hybrid Hennessey which takes parts from different cars. Frankenstein car yes. Rememeber that these Skyline runs took place 14 years ago. And I am sure they could build 20 of them easily if they wanted. Dick contests...

[Nando]

It IS a production car mate (that's why Guinness recorded the run at all). The yearly production numbers for both these hypercars are similar However, the Agera R is definitely much more discrete, more complex. The length to which Mr. Koenigsegg has gone to achieve the desired performance level is staggering. But still, if we talk about 0-200mph numbers, you can't ignore the Venom GT.

Nope still a kit car in my opinion, looks like something two blokes have built in a barn somewhere.

Notice i said "proper" productions car as well

[ds.raikkonen]

Well, those Skyline engines must ve been over boosted monsters, but the reason it was nt recorded by Guinness is because it was nt 'manufactured' like that by Nissan. The Venom GT is, even though I agree it is nt as bespoke as a Veyron or an Agera, it still falls in the category of 'production' car, proper or not wonder what suspension must ve been necessary in that 300kph busting Skyline? The Agera R has ana revolutionary triplex suspension, which is really innovative.
Personally, I find the Venom GT better looking than the Veyron, that wide stance and long-tail, even though it is nt even near as well engineered as the big bug.