Bugatti Veyron vs. Dodge Viper

If a Bugatti Veyron rolled up to a traffic light alongside a gang of idling exotics, even the most boisterous Ferrari driver wouldn’t rev his engine in challenge. The thunder of 1001bhp would send a sonic boom through his carbon fibre shell, crack it in half and leave a wet puddle on the fancy leather seat.

Now try that next to John Hennessey, a smirking Texan slinking low in a Hennessey Venom 1000 Twin Turbo, his monster rendition of the crude, all-American Dodge Viper. He presses the throttle, the heat of 1000bhp and 1100 lb ft of torque crackling out of the side exhausts.

The Bugatti pilot doesn’t even nod his head - then the light turns green. The Veyron is immediately in the clear thanks to its all-wheel-drive, but in the next few seconds, the Viper presses along the Bugatti’s side mirror and then - the unthinkable - it makes a pass.

That’s what Hennessey thinks will happen when he gets the chance to race a Veyron head-to-head strapped with full test gear. So far, only the Veyron’s top speed has been officially documented outside the factory. Everything else is on Bugatti’s word.

“We are not interested in competing with other people,” said Bugatti spokesman Georges Keller.

Despite the Venom’s angled nose and custom six-spoke chrome wheels, the coupé - also available as a hair-stripping roadster - looks like a stock Viper SRT10. In two recent U.S. magazine tests, the Venom hit 200mph in 21.3 seconds and covered a full mile 4.9 seconds later travelling at more than 217mph.

The Venom is nowhere near stock, and no, it hasn’t got a Hemi. It’s got a stroked 8.5 litre V10 and two Garrett turbos forcing almost twice the output of a normal Viper.

“I dare say [the Veyron’s] not near 15mph [in the mile],” said Hennessey. “I’d bet a lot of money it’d beat the Veyron in top speed as well.”

Unlike Bernd Pischetsrieder of Volkswagen, Hennessey doesn’t head a major global corporation with millions of pounds worth of R&D on tap. But he also isn’t a loud-mouthed fool. He’s the founder of Hennessey Performance Engineering, an aftermarket tuning company with 10 employees in Houston, Texas, that’s known across the U.S. for building insanely fast Dodge Vipers.

Hennessey started modifying Vipers when they first came out in 1992 with an 8.0 litre 400bhp V10. But while Dodge has only added 110bhp in the car’s 14-year span, Hennessey has increased that roughly six fold.

Yet not all of the 100 vehicles his company assembles each year are Vipers. He’s also proficient in squeezing 850bhp out of the Ford GT and can outfit Porsche Cayennes and Maybachs northwards of 600bhp. For do-it-yourselfers, he sells upgrade kits, where many power-hungry customers in the Middle East have found him worthy. To Hennessey, the £886,000 Bugatti Veyron might as well be just another car.

“Yeah, we’re talking about doing a match up,” he said.

His latest terror smokes its tyres through third gear, but with "drag radials" - softer, stickier tires optimised for quick launches - Hennessey claims the Venom will reach 60mph in less than three seconds. He estimates a top speed of 255mph, a convenient 2mph quicker than the mighty Veyron. Those two lofty figures have yet to be proven, but the Venom’s trump card is its near 700lb advantage over the almost two-tonne Bugatti.

Every car-crazed person in the world would die to see the Veyron outgunned. Except Bugatti.

 “If he wants to have fun in his Viper he can do that, but we have to follow a certain safety standard that he probably wouldn’t consider,” Keller said.

In the early stages of Veyron development, engineers were confronted with all sorts of dangers. Keeping the titanic 16 cylinders and four turbos from melting the body. Sustaining triple-digit speeds without the tires disintegrating. And that little problem with the front end becoming an airfoil.

Everything, of course, has been solved with dependable German efficiency and reliability - it may as well be the fastest Volkswagen Golf in the world. But Keller says Bugatti never intended on setting a speed record.

 “Horsepower is not the issue - top speed is very dangerous,” he said.

Hennessey, however, isn’t too concerned with his car turning into an aeroplane. The Venom actually produces more drag than the Veyron, which could limit his speed.

“We have so much brute force that aerodynamics aren’t going to matter as much,” he said.

So far Hennessey has sold 24 Venom coupés and roadsters to U.S. customers at $225,000 (£122,000), less than one-fifth the cost of a Veyron. He plans to make two dozen more this year.

Bugatti has delivered 12 cars since it began production in December and has 90 orders so far, Keller said. The Molsheim plant has capacity for 50 per year, and while it plans to expand that to 60, the company will halt total sales at 300. 

As for the street fight between Bugatti and Hennessey, you can bet it won’t remain fantasy for too long.

“Quite a few people have asked to test-drive the car,” Keller said. “We will do it.”

http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22750-2223167,00 .html

....and here's a video of it on the track

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3619310680085311748 &q=Hennessey