American tuning company Hennessey Performance plays by its own rules. So if it wants to have a made-up Christmas speed record, that’s great by us.
It’s become a mini-tradition for Hennessey to undertake a “Christmas speed run” by seeing how fast one of its vehicles can go with a Christmas tree strapped to the roof. It set a worthy benchmark in 2019 with a 755kW (1000bhp in American numbers) Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, which hit 291km/h with the tree on top.
Last year it smashed that though, with an Audi RS 6 Avant pumped up to 596kW, carrying a six-foot Douglas Fir on top: it hit a deeply impressive 295km/h. Even more amusing is that the car is actually a daily driver belonging to John Hennessey’s wife, Hope.
Possibly even more amusing than that, is the fact that the Audi was Hennessey’s second try at breaking the Jeep record. The first was a Porsche 911 Turbo S, which could do 330km/h sans tree but lost a whopping 48km/h in top speed with the tree attached. The takeaway is that 911s simply aren’t practical if you’re in a hurry to get your Christmas tree home.
READ MORE
The 2021 run was actually some light relief in the middle of high-speed testing for the Venom F5 hypercar.
“We wanted to see what my wife’s Audi station wagon would run without the tree and we managed 205mph [330km/h],” said Hennesey. “Then, the real holiday fun began when we mounted a real Christmas tree on the roof. To our surprise, her wagon ran a very respectable 183mph [295km/h].
It was piloted by professional driver and senior instructor at the Ford Performance Driving School, Spencer Geswein.
The RS 6 record still stands. While Hennessey hinted at a new run for 2022 on social media in June this year, we’re yet to see the fruits. Come on team, you’re running out of time.
