Houston, Texas-based modifiers of obscene horsepower, Hennessey, fill their corporate coffers supercharging Corvette and Cadillac engines to the point of absurdity. But they are best known for their Bugatti-killing Venom hypercar. Hennessey and Bugatti, in fact, have gone back to the lab many times in the past 10 years to squeeze out a bit more power to top the other in order to claim the crown of World’s Fastest Production Car. That title is currently in question, as it’s still held by Bugatti for its Veyron Super Sport (267.81 mph), even though Hennessy seemed to top it last winter when its Venom GT hit 270.49 mph.

That argument is about to become superfluous, however, as Hennessey today announced the latest volley in their Hypercar Wars: the Venom F5. With their next generation Venom, Hennessey is promising a simply mind-boggling 290 mph top speed — enough to shatter the standing record. While the alleged 1,400 horsepower generated from their reworked twin-turbocharged 7.0-liter V8 engine is critical, so too is its aerodynamic redesign that promises to marry an even slipperier profile with enough downforce (via a retractable rear wing) to keep the F5 from leaving the Earth and flying off into the stratosphere.

Of course considerable weight savings will also be needed from the carbon-fiber and aluminum-bodied hypercar, so Hennessey is replacing the outgoing GT’s manual transmission with a single-clutch paddle shift auto. This means the F5 could also improve on the GT’s already world record holding acceleration (14.51 seconds to 200 mph). Another nice feature is a GPS-enabled traction control that will be programmed with top racetracks around the world.

Hennessey says it will only build 30 units, enough to just qualify it as a “production” car for Guinness Book Of World Records. No word yet on pricing, but expect to pay quite a bit more than the outgoing Venom’s already Abramovichian price tag of $1,200,000.

One more look at the Hennessey Venom F5 after the Jump…