Hennessey’s latest supercar is the ultimate stick-shift machine

Famous tuner and niche automaker Hennessey presented a new version of its Venom F5 hypercar earlier this week. It’s called the F5-M, has a roadster body, and packs a six-speed manual transmission sending 1,842 PS (1,817 hp / 1,355 kW) to the wheels. Owning the planet’s most powerful stick-shift car starts from $2,650,000.

The original F5 debuted a couple of years ago and had a seven-speed DCT for the transmission. The new manual gearbox was designed by CIMA in Italy. The biggest challenge was to make the gears withstand the ire of the aptly named 6.6-liter “Fury” V8 under the hood. Numerous adjustments had to be made to the engine, limiting its RPM counts especially at lower gears.

At the same time, the company revised the monocoque design to accommodate the new transmission tunnel and other new components. As a result, the interior layout looks considerably different from the original.

The exterior wound up with a 1.4-meter (54-inch) long stabilizer fin and redesigned air intakes, as well as an exclusive livery only available for this model. Having said that, customers are free to choose a different finish for their cars.

Only 12 examples of the Venom F5-M will be made, all part of the previously announced total production run of 30 F5 units. The production won’t begin until 2025 because the car still needs to be tested on the roads, but all 12 examples have already been presold. Hennessey hasn’t revealed any sprint times or other dynamic performance figures for the M version yet.