WEBVTT - Supercar Maker John Hennessey Aims for Top Speed Record 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:04.520 I'm Matt Miller and I'm Hannah Elliott, and this is 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:05.160 hot pursuit. 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.480 All right, we have a fantastic guest for you today. 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.520 I'm pretty excited, Hannah. You're the one who brought him 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.000 to us. And John Hennessy has really become a legend 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:24.919 alongside you know, Carol Shelby in America. 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:29.440 Completely and he's done the difficult task of running and 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.520 operating a car company and actually delivering cars. When they 0:00:33.800 --> 0:00:35.320 say they're going to make them, they make them and 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:37.400 they actually do it. And he's got a few world 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:38.080 records too. 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:41.239 Yeah. Absolutely, So it's a ten year anniversary of the 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:44.480 world record that they set with the Venom GT, which 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:47.640 I think Steven Tyler famously had a one off version 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:51.480 built for himself as a spider. And now it looks 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:53.560 like they're going to try that again with their new car, 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:54.639 the Venom F five. 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.640 Which is super exciting. And John also shared some very 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:01.720 enticing little tidbit too, I have to say in our conversation. 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:04.399 So I'm actually going to be watching Hennessy pretty closely 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:05.160 these next few years. 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:07.480 All right, let's get into it with John Hennessy. Let's 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:09.959 kick it off with the Venom F five and Coda. 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.280 Okay, sure, Venom F five went to the circumd America's 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:16.160 about a month ago, and we've been doing a little 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:18.760 bit of testing up there, just kind of dialing our 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:21.679 setup in in the car for our customers, and got 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.360 close to a lap record and we thought, well, golly, 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:26.760 maybe we can come back and see if we can 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:30.920 be the fastest production series roadcar and street tis at CODA. 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:33.600 And we did just that. We beat the I think 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:36.240 the Seizinger guys there from LA. We beat them by 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:39.000 four tenths of the second. We beat the McLaren P 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.600 one by about seven seconds of lap and I still 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.240 don't think that we're anywhere near what the F five 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.240 is capable around Coda. But again, I think that what 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.000 was kind of a cool thing with kind of demonstrating 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.520 its capability on the road course. People weren't expecting the 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:56.000 Venom F five to be something that would be capable 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:59.600 of going and setting big numbers on racetracks like Coda, 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:02.160 like we have gone in the numbering yet, but it's 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:04.680 on our list. But but we always wanted that Venom 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:07.400 F five to be you know, my track analogy would 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:09.800 be track and field and nowgs it would be to 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:14.120 be the decathlete of hypercars. So it does, it stops, 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.799 it turns, it accelerates. Obviously, it's got tremendous power to 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:22.040 weight ratiow Again, certain hyper cars are known for certain 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:25.799 you know Bugatti obviously the very luxurious and very high 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:28.359 top speed. And so anyway, that was a that was 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:29.960 a big box for us to check. And we've got 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.960 a number of other performance records and speed records that 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:34.760 we're looking at down the road, but right now it's 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:38.160 nice to validate being the fastest production series roadcar and 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:39.080 street tiers at CODA. 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:41.960 John, I have to say a couple of things. Number One, 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.880 I love hearing you say golly, because that is so Texan. 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:47.800 And my dad says that he's the only other person 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:52.400 I really so that's that's a very texting thing. And 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:55.480 you know it's really interesting. You know, we've talked in 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:59.040 the past about You've said, hey, these type of records 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.760 and these really high speeds are kind of just the 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:07.280 result of engineering. They're not even necessarily the goal, because 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:11.360 a lot of your buyers are not looking necessarily to 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:14.000 own a world record car. Is that am I remembering? 0:03:14.080 --> 0:03:14.280 Right? 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:15.320 Is that still accurate. 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:18.720 That is exactly right. You've got an excellent recollection and 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:24.280 exactly to your point, the lap record. Like, we didn't 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.360 go to CODED as a marketing event, as a marketing exercise. 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:31.000 We went there basically to develop our car, perfect our car, 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.960 to simulate our car under conditions that at some point 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:37.920 our customers are going to drive it again. Nobody. I 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:39.800 don't know that any but any of our We've sold 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.600 about forty cars. We've delivered twenty two F fives to day. 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:45.520 I've not had an F five client say well, hey, 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:47.920 you know, look, I'll be really really excited if you 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:50.800 can set a lap record somewhere. They love that. I 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.080 tell you what's interesting what our clients really resonates with 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:56.320 our clients. We hear this from almost all of them. 0:03:56.720 --> 0:03:59.960 They tell us that buying the F five is much 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.440 for the experience with me, with our family, with our company. 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.280 That's as important to them the overall experience. It is 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:09.240 the actual car itself. So what's cool is is by 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:14.680 developing the car and focusing on engineering and perfecting the product, 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:19.719 the by product is the speed record. And so you 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:22.440 know the old saying of form follows function, form follows 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:27.039 performance really in this case, the the the the performance 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:28.920 of the car is really just a function of our 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.359 focus on trying to make the best car that we 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.919 can make, and the result is we said a lap record, 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.520 and again we still feel like there's there's quite a 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:40.280 bit more time left in the car, but we've checked 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:42.120 that boxers are the things that we're looking at down 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:45.200 the road. But it's it's cool for our customers to 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:47.279 have a brading right to say, hey, my car is 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:50.120 the fastest of this. And again we have we've got 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.400 big goals for the F five, whether it's the Vmax run, 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:55.880 the top speed run that we're looking at doing hopefully 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:58.599 later this year, and maybe a few other things along 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:01.440 the way. So yeah, I think the story behind the 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:04.440 car is very important, but you know, people really like 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:07.360 the overall experience and going to car Week and coming 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.159 to the factory and specing their car and spending time 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.680 with our clients. It's it's very experiential and it's a 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:17.320 very boutique part of the process that we really that 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:19.840 we I enjoy my family or enjoy all my all 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:21.800 of our kids work on a business and are all 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:25.200 very involved in the program. So those relationships with those 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:26.640 clients is really special. 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:29.719 I have to say, you know, just looking at the car, 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:34.280 it's gorgeous. I would be happy to own one for 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:38.040 just the design, the engineering, the power train. I wouldn't 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:42.440 need a world record to buy this car. That doesn't 0:05:42.480 --> 0:05:44.800 mean you're not going to try and set one. Right currently, 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:47.880 I think it's held by the Bugatti at three hundred 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:49.960 and four miles per hour or so. 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:53.200 And I think there's a konig Seg that I think. 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:54.520 John tell me I'm wrong. 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:59.039 The Bugatti is a prototype the konig Seg has. 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:01.520 In any case, you you've set a world record before. 0:06:01.720 --> 0:06:03.680 John tell us about this whole the whole history, because 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:06.159 you set a world record with the with the VENOMGT 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:10.440 ten years ago basically, and that was beating a Bugatti 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:12.760 at least I've read, And now it seems like you're 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:14.400 in the same situation a decade later. 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:18.240 Yeah, it's kind of a funny story. So way back 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:22.440 when is the Venom GT came into existence and we 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:26.040 had orders and we're developing the car. It was always 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:28.560 our goal to be the fastest. So at the time 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.680 Bugatti with their vay Round supersport had run a two 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:34.480 AA average of two hundred and sixty seven miles per hour, 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.080 and that was the number that we wanted to beat. 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.960 So when we went to NASA and we're running on 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:45.320 the former spaceship landing runway. On that particular day we 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:47.520 ran two hundred and seven miles our in one direction, 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:50.400 we wanted to turn around and run the opposite direction. 0:06:50.520 --> 0:06:54.480 So you typically to for Guinness or for FIA, or 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:58.120 just for the world to recognize an official top speed run, 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:00.400 you want to run in both directions. That way, you 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.799 cancel out any wind or I mean, NASA is very flat, 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:05.960 but in the case of Kona Seig, they ran on 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.040 a run or on a highway in Nevada that had 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:10.600 a slope to it, so you have to go uphill 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:12.520 and down hill. So anyway, we wanted to make the 0:07:12.560 --> 0:07:16.520 return run. But on that particular day, NASA was testing 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:20.280 an autonomous spacecraft called Morpheus on the end of the 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.200 runway that we were departing from, so we could run. 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:25.240 I think we were running from north to south, but 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:27.120 they would not allow us to run south to north 0:07:27.120 --> 0:07:30.280 because they had spacecraft and people on the opposite of 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:32.280 the runway. So we thought, no big deal, so we 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:34.800 put that it went out in the news and then 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:37.280 some of the haters, and I won't say Biggutty's a hater, 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.000 but they definitely were like, well, that's not a because 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:42.800 you didn't run both directions. Yeah. Oh hey, Look, we're 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.320 friendly competitors. And at that time, their CEO is a 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.840 guy named Wolfgang Drheimer, whom I got to know. I 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.320 met him a car week. He really liked the fact 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:53.520 that we were competing with him. He felt like having 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.280 that rivalry he created relevance in the market, which I 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:58.960 totally agree with, and so we became friends, and so 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:01.720 I saw him maybe a couple of years later. I 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:05.600 was at Geneva when they were unveiling the Shiron and 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:08.360 he was very busy, shook hands, just chatted for a moment, 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:10.600 and as he walked away, he turned around and looked 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.080 at me over his shoulder and he smiled and said, Hey, John, 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:15.080 make sure next time you run a top streeed run 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.520 you run bout directions. And I laughed and like, okay, man, 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.960 all right, it's on and so fast forward. So he's 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.720 no longer co. He retired, and then the guy the 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:28.800 Bugatti guys went out and ran their shure on superscored back. 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:32.440 I think it was in twenty nineteen. Amazing number. They 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:34.960 ran almost three hundred and five miles per hour, but 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.320 for whatever reason, they only ran one direction. Yeah, and 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.080 I know some of the guys that work there. I'm like, okay, 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:43.800 you've left the door open now, Hannah. You were mentioning 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:46.559 earlier the Conaset guys have run a two average. I 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:49.439 think it still stands at two hundred and seventy eight 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:51.439 miles or something like that. They did that back in 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:56.080 maybe twenty seventeen. So again we feel like, again for 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.120 the vmax run or an official two, for an official 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.720 production top seed record, you've got to run both directions 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:04.960 and to your point, and I don't know, I don't 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:06.599 know this for a fact. I wasn't that air the 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.880 same when they ran the car. But it's been mentioned 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:12.760 that the car that they ran maybe had some significant 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:17.240 modifications that are not necessarily on the road cars that 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:19.600 you could buy. So I'm not gonna I'm not going 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:21.280 to take any knocks against them. If they had a 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:23.840 rollcage or they lighten the car, whatever they did to 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:26.320 make that run, it's still an astonishing record. It still 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:30.200 sets a high bar Look, we love competition. We want 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:31.880 to we want to go out and beat that number 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:34.760 again others are playing. 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.720 Let me just ask, is it true that the theoretic 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:41.199 theoretical top speed of the Venom F five is over 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:43.280 three hundred twenty five miles per hour? And how do 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:45.240 you how do you figure that out? 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:49.079 Yeah? Uh yeah, So we've got a team of aridon 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:53.560 amesis internally and externally from the company. Uh the CFD. 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.000 The aero analysis says, with the power that our car 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:00.320 is making with its funnel area and drag, it's three 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.480 hundred and twenty eight miles per hour theoretical top speed. 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.240 We're not trying to go anywhere near that. But look, 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:08.800 I mean if we could get to five hundred kilometers, 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:11.600 which is around three hundred and eleven miles per hour, 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:13.960 if we could do that in one direction, I think 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:15.559 that would be really cool. But you know, the thing 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.000 that really boils down to these top speed runs is 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.520 where do you do this a runway? I don't know 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.520 if the NASA runway in Florida is long enough. We're 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:25.160 probably going to have to do it on a highway. 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:28.400 And so look, this is high stakes poker in that 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:32.160 you've got the safety of the driver. You've got the car, 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:35.360 you know, so where do we run the car? That's 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:36.960 the big thing that we're working on. We feel like 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.360 we've got the car right now is ready to go, 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:41.760 go make the run, but we're we're working on a 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.880 few different things. Maybe a longer runway, a little bit 0:10:44.880 --> 0:10:48.360 longer than us and also the possibility of a Texas 0:10:48.440 --> 0:10:51.719 Highway so you know, howdy yeehaul, you know, all those 0:10:51.760 --> 0:10:53.240 good texts and things, would be kind of fun to 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.679 do it here here and here in the great state 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:56.760 of Texas, we'll say. 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:01.800 Second largest state. I'm curious, can you give us a 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:05.560 feel for when you decide to go for a record run, 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:11.679 how long is the planning for that and how much 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.520 does it cost? In general? I mean, is this a 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:20.200 big output for the company or it's not that big 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.000 a deal for lack of a better word. And then 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.319 I just also want to say, theoretically, on that three 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.720 twenty eight, it seems like you're saying that the limiting 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:33.480 factor on a speed is space to do tires also 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:37.200 come into it and think specific to the car. 0:11:37.920 --> 0:11:42.800 Absolutely, so first question, it's absolutely a huge deal to 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:49.000 do it right. So we have dedicated resources. Our engineering 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:50.840 team has been actually been working on this for quite 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:53.600 a while so in a variety of phases, so prepping 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:56.520 the car, working with Michelin. We were actually in South 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.680 Carolina and had some meetings with the fine folks of Michelin. 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:02.160 They've been a great partner on the tire. So we 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.719 feel great about the tire. Obviously there's president the gonna set. 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:08.280 Guys have run into the two ninety range with the 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:12.160 with the pilots Supersport Sport Cup two tire, So we 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:14.360 feel good about the tire. But really to your point, 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:17.280 it's the where you know the location. How much distance 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:19.760 do we have to work with. We did a test 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:25.680 on gosh really probably twelvehndred horsepower. We ran two hundred 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.040 and seventy two months power with the F five a 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.000 couple of years ago, just to validate the car before 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:34.320 we started delivering the clients, and so I think we 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:36.920 can probably run upwards of three hundred at NASA, but 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.360 again that's nowhere near it's it's we don't We're not 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.280 trying to get to the theoretical top speed, but we 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:44.559 would like to hit that five magic five hundred kilometer 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.160 number at least in one direction. So so yeah, there's 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:50.559 a ton of time, a ton of resources. It's risky business. 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:53.760 As President Kennedy said back in the sixties, we don't 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:56.120 do these things because they're easy. We do them because 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.520 we're hard. Because they're hard. So it makes our product better, 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:03.560 it makes our engineers are drivers better. I don't know 0:13:03.600 --> 0:13:05.240 that I've had a customer say, well, you know, I'll 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:07.240 buy the car if I can, if it has the 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:09.840 top speed record. Yeah, it's probably good for breaking right, 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.280 So it's probably really good for brand, long term and 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:15.440 long term value of the car. But again, people are 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:18.360 buying the F five not because of its vmax potential. 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:21.320 They're buying it because it's a piece of automotive art 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:25.520 and it's the most fun vehicle I've ever driven, So 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.000 that's part of what they're buying. But I think again, 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:30.960 I think some of them, these guys and men and 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:33.120 women that own the F five and have it on order, 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:35.920 they're also savvy investors. They're also somewhat betting on the 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.400 come that if we do knock off Bugatti and we 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:40.880 do set the two way average, that the likeliness of 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:42.960 their car being worth more than they paid for it 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:45.480 is going to increase. So yeah, now we take it 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.280 very seriously. It's a huge investment of time and money, 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.960 and it's also look, there there's also risk involved. There's 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.439 reasons why the manufacturers do not play in the sandbox. 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:57.560 It's because it's it's high stakes pokers. So we take 0:13:57.600 --> 0:13:59.559 that very seriously in the safety of our driver in 0:13:59.640 --> 0:14:02.559 our car. So but we're still very intent on doing it. 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.240 This is just part of our our family's DNA, our 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:07.720 company's DNA, and it's white and one of the reasons 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:10.240 why we're in this business. We like to push the boundaries. 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:12.000 We like to climb the next highest mountain. 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:19.120 Now you mentioned neburgering, sounds like you might take the 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:21.520 car over, did were you? 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:27.480 Yeah? So, look, I mean it's it's always been something 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:29.960 that's been loosely on a radar screen, but way down 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:37.400 the priority list. Relevant. It is absolutely relevant. But I 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:42.160 will say this that the degree of difficulty of going 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.960 fast or being the fastest the Nordchlifa is a higher 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:50.080 bar than a top speed run. It's a bigger investment, 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.560 it's riskier, there's a lot that there's a lot there's 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.840 just as many variables in terms of weather, the track, 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:01.160 it's down to the driver. Look, we've we've got access 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:05.160 to So I hired a guy, Brian Jones, about nine 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:07.840 months ago who came to me. I didn't seek him out. 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:09.440 I didn't even know that I needed at the time. 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:12.160 But Brian was previously the chief engineer of the ams 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:14.640 want Ams Wan has the record at the Normie Life 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:16.560 But so I think they ran a six thirty two 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:19.480 or six thirty three lap time. So Brian's Brian's now 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:22.880 my chief engineer, and he feels like we're we're capable 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:26.680 of running a time fashion than that, but it's very complicated. It's, 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.560 you know, five six thousand miles away. I would have 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.600 to take a significant part of our team and kind 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:34.800 of camp out over there, and ultimately you're looking for 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.160 the right day with the right weather. So again, we 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.240 have other other priorities on the on the record list 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:42.840 between now and then, but I could see us, I 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.280 could see us doing some testing there and next year 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.040 and but you never know. I mean, obviously now we're now, 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:50.120 I mean we're always playing with the big boys, but 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:56.440 like you know, Mercedes Porsche, so they're very significant competitors 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.320 and I'm going to guess at some point, you know, 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:00.760 Porsche's not going to sit back and why Mercedes sit 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:02.520 at the top of the leader board, They're going to 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:04.560 want to knock that off. So back to what we 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.520 first started talking about, we will go to the nerveberg 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.560 Ring to further develop our car and make our car 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:13.800 even better. And if as a byproduct, we've got a 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.000 fast lap time, you know, even if it's not a 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:17.520 record time, if we go out and we've set a 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.600 respectful time, we'll put the video out. It's compelling, it's fun, 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:25.040 and again it's something that we want to do, but 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.360 again for the long term brand of the car and 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:31.760 the provenance and future value. I think I think this 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.240 is another reason why we do these things is because 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:38.840 you know, at some point, you know, you know, mean again, 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:42.120 I feel like we build the world's greatest internal combustion 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:45.400 powered hypercar currently, but at some point there may not 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:48.440 be internal combustion powered hypercar. So we kind of feel 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.240 like it's our duty to be kind of a part 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:51.680 of history as much as we can. 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:02.200 I want to ask first tout Hennessee Performance because it's 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:05.239 hard to really pinpoint the company you do. You know, 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:08.320 you tune the way I found about out about the company. 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:10.119 You know, ten years ago or fifteen years ago, you 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.720 tune other cars. So I wanted to, you know, get 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.719 your supercharger kit for my Tahoe way back when. And 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:20.480 you do. You know, obviously a number of manufacturers products, 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:23.840 but you also make these cars which I think compete 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:29.600 with more like Pegani and Bugatti, McLaren and Kunigseeg than 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:33.399 you know, Porsche or Mercedes that you mentioned. Explain the 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:35.360 way you think about Hennessee Performance to us. 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:39.240 Sure, So we basically have three different divisions within the company. 0:17:39.560 --> 0:17:43.679 Hennessey Performance modifies. We make fast cars and trucks go faster, 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:48.040 so Broncos, rappers, Mustangs, corvettes, things of that nature. The 0:17:48.119 --> 0:17:50.600 last couple of years we built just under six hundred vehicles. 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:53.320 So again, you come to us, you want something that's fast, 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:55.879 it's probably in the one hundred of two hundred and 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.560 fifty thousand price range. That's what we built. You might 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:00.000 own the vehicle and send it to us, you might 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:01.720 call us up. I just want to buy a turnkey vehicle. 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:05.200 So that's from a revenue standpoint, since this is Bloomberg, 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:08.600 that's about half of our revenue. The other half predominant 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.080 other half of our revenues from AT five production, so 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:14.360 again about eleven cars the year the last two years. 0:18:14.600 --> 0:18:16.520 Then we have another division of the business that we 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:18.959 don't really talk about a lot, but it's really it's 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:21.720 a huge part of our culture, and that's our trade 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:23.879 school called Tuner School, where we teach people how to 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:27.919 modify cars. We have classes three semesters a year. The 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:31.240 students are eighteen to eighteen to thirty five year old 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:34.000 men and women both come to Tuner School. They're here 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.840 for four months, fourteen weeks, and so that's about forty 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:39.560 percent of our work staff. We have just under one 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:41.960 hundred employees. About forty percent of the people that work 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:43.840 here at Hennessy have come out of Tuner School. So 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.360 it's a really it's a really important part of our workforce. 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:48.399 It's a big part of our top line business. 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:52.640 Ye correct, correct and so and so this overall machine. 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:55.400 They're very Again, we have different divisions, but they all 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.800 interrelate to each other. We're our best and our brightest 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:01.920 that come out of Hennessey Performing Us generally will migrate 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:04.360 over to the Hennessy Special Vehicle side of the business, 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:08.080 building and developing the f five. We also are growing 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:12.680 our engineering department significantly under under Brian Jones leadership. Again 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:15.600 previously with MULTIMATEC he was chief engineer for MG one 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:18.840 and for four GT. And so look, we you know, 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:21.160 we've been around for thirty three years. People part our name, 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:25.320 whether it's modified vipers, the Venom Viper, you know, Mustangs, Camaros, 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:28.240 raptors for lost rappers, that's what we're really known for. 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.399 But I promise you this, we are setting up the 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:35.200 company for success and growth for the next one hundred years. 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.400 And again our our our kids or we have five 0:19:38.480 --> 0:19:40.320 kids plus the son in law. They're all involved in 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:42.880 the business in some form or fashion. It started off 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.480 as a crazy idem me wanted to modify Admitsubshi three 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.320 thousand GT and race back in nineteen ninety one. But 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:51.600 it's turned out a really neat need be neat business 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:55.840 and need brands. You know we've got yeah, oh yeah, 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:58.240 I got a little personal collection with the number of 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:00.000 Radeway cars. So yeah, stuff. 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:03.600 I'm so curious. You know, you mentioned that you're thinking 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:06.439 about the next hundred years, and I can't help but 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:11.080 think that there have been so many automotive startups that 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:13.680