Steven Tyler gets first Venom GT Spyder

You might recognise Steven Tyler. He did, of course, star as a member of the ‘Future Villain Band' in 1978's Beatles film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Oh, and he's the lead singer of Aerosmith, is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, American Idol judge and owner of the most implausible lips in the music industry. He's also quite cool.

Last year, it turns out he had a weighty conversation with Hennessey Performance chief John Hennessey. Quite literally, actually. "Steven came to us and asked if we could build his Venom GT as a roadster," says John. "We had to make a few structural changes to our integrated rollcage in order to be able to fit the removable top.

"This increased the weight of our vehicle by about 30lbs to a curb weight of 2,743lbs - 1,244kgs. So we decided to increase the Venom GT's power to 1,244bhp to maintain our one horsepower-per-one-kilogramme power to weight," John adds.

That's right, this Venom GT Spyder - based on a Lotus Exige, don't forget - produces 1,244bhp from its 7.0-litre Hennessey-built twin-turbo V8. There is also quite a lot of torque, and a 0-62mph that you shouldn't really concern yourself with, because if you're going full throttle in one of these, your eyes should be fixed firmly on the road ahead. Suffice to say, John reckons it pushes out "tested 0-200mph times of under 16 seconds".

Just five will be built for the 2013 model year, of which only two remain available. And Steven's got the first Spyder. Click through for the pics.