No turbos, no hybrid, no screens and a six-speed manual. Jay gets an early look at the Hennessey Blackbird.
Jay first met John Hennessey in 1993, back when John was a Texas hot rodder bolting more speed onto Vipers. Since then he's built the Venom F5, which makes over 2,000 horsepower. For his next car he's gone the other way. The Blackbird runs a naturally aspirated 6.2-liter dual overhead cam V8, developed with Ilmor, that's targeted at 800 to 850 hp and revs past 9,000 rpm. It drives the rear wheels through a gated six-speed manual. Hennessey says it will be the most powerful naturally aspirated V8 ever put in a road-going production car.
Nathan Malinick, Hennessey's head of design, walks Jay around the car. It's named for the SR-71 Blackbird, and only 71 will be built. The crease along the side pod copies the plane's chine line. The diamond-shaped headlights come from the exhaust layout on Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1. The taillights are a freeze frame of the SR-71's afterburner. Active vertical stabilizers rise out of the split tail, and in profile they draw the plane's silhouette.
Inside there are no screens at all. The backup camera is hidden in the rearview mirror. Instead you get an analog oil pressure gauge and a whiskey compass in the center stack. Nathan says the car was also "designed with the wives in mind," so it fits two full-size carry-on bags up front, with more room behind the seats and in the quarter panels. Underneath it has a carbon fiber tub, Brembo carbon ceramic brakes, 20-inch front and 21-inch rear wheels, and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires.
"To me, all the fun is between 40 and 120," Jay says. This car is built for exactly that range.
What You'll Learn
– Why Hennessey dropped turbos and hybrid power after the 2,000+ hp Venom F5
– Specs for the naturally aspirated 6.2L V8 developed with Ilmor
– How the SR-71 Blackbird and the Bell X-1 shaped the car's design
– How a hypercar with no screens still meets the backup camera rule
– Which hypercar has the most luggage space, according to Hennessey
– Why Hennessey chose off-the-shelf Michelin Cup 2 tires over bespoke ones
– Jay's story of Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier with broken ribs
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