Hennessey Venom F5-M: 2,031 HP and a Six-Speed Manual in a 12-Unit Hypercar
The Hennessey Venom F5-M made its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 9, putting 2,031 horsepower through a six-speed gated manual gearbox — a combination that hasn't existed in any production car before it. All 12 examples are already allocated to buyers in the US, UK, and international markets, so this is more a collector event than a shopping opportunity. Still, it signals that the manual transmission isn't entirely dead, even at the extreme end of the performance car world.
The drivetrain
The F5-M pairs Hennessey's 6.6-liter twin-turbocharged Fury V8 with a six-speed manual featuring a billet aluminum shifter and an open gate — the kind where you can see and feel every gear slot. That tactile, mechanical shift action is a deliberate contrast to the paddle-shift automatics and dual-clutch boxes that dominate the hypercar segment. To make 2,031 hp manageable with a clutch pedal, Hennessey's engineers rebuilt the traction control and electronic systems from the ground up. The F5-M also gets the Evolution package upgrades: adaptive suspension, revised chassis tuning, and a 55-inch dorsal fin for high-speed aerodynamic stability.
The roadster body adds a removable roof, so the V8's sound reaches the driver completely unfiltered. Underneath, a carbon-fiber monocoque keeps weight in check while providing the structural rigidity needed at speeds above 250 mph.
The first car — and the list
Chassis 1 belongs to a British customer and is finished in exposed purple carbon with 24-karat gold accents and a hand-painted Union Jack on the dorsal fin. It ran the famous Goodwood hillclimb twice daily through July 12, driven by Alex Brundle. The price is $2.65 million before taxes — roughly $550,000 more than the standard F5 Coupe, which itself starts at $2.1 million. Each example is built to individual order through Hennessey's Maverick bespoke division, meaning no two F5-Ms are identical.
Hennessey says the manual transmission option will eventually extend to other F5 variants, including the Coupe and the track-focused Revolution. For now, the F5-M stands as a statement: at 2,031 hp, the manual gearbox is still viable — it just requires significant engineering work to get there. According to the Hennessey official press release, every unit is already sold, and Motor1 confirms the full $2.65M pricing and UK ownership of the debut car.
