A decade ago, if you drove a car with 200 HP, it was something special; but today it is hard to even find a car with less horsepower. Factory V6s are making more than V8s used to, and get a lot better gas mileage. These days it is not uncommon to have anywhere from three to four hundred ponies under the hood of your ride. So in order to stand out in a world of high performance Porsches, you need something special, something like an 800 HP 911 GT2. The American tuning company Switzer Performance can give this to you, for the measly sum of $39,000 plus the cost of the Porsche.

Switzer is able to achieve such astronomical power figured from the flat six thanks to a set of custom ball bearing Garret GT30R-based turbochargers. Switzer's upgraded turbos are capable of compressing massive amounts of air, while generating less unwanted heat and friction than the stock units, the charged air is them brought back down to operating temperature inside a pair of Switzer's own MONSTER intercoolers. Each cylinder is then fed additional air and fuel by way of larger injectors and custom intake plenum with an oversized throttle-body. In order to maintain factory driveability, the engine is still controlled by the stock ECU; however Switzer has reprogrammed the unit to get the most out of their custom setup.

Press release after the jump.

Press release

2009 has been a busy year for Switzer Performance. In January, Switzer's thousand-horsepower, 9-second SLEDGEHAMMER project car introduced the world to the Ohio-based tuning house, which followed up its debut act in February when a number of Switzer's customer cars run 10 second 1/4 miles in 700 hp fully-automatic 997 turbo Porsches. March saw the introduction of Switzer's Nissan R35 GTR performance upgrades, good for up to 800 hp on 93 octane pump gas.

This week, Tym Switzer is introducing his latest customer-ready performance packages for Porsche's outstanding 997 GT2. The new GT2 packages range from a simple software revision to Switzer's comprehensive flagship offering: the $39,000, 800 hp GT2 PKG shown (installed) in these pictures. "This 800 horsepower pump-gas package has evolved from those first SLEDGEHAMMER builds," explains Tym, "but unlike the SLEDGEHAMMER, which used a stand-alone system, we've been able to keep the factory DME, making this a true bolt-on package. Everything else that went into the SLEDGEHAMMER builds is in this package, running on pump 93."

Switzer's 800 hp GT2 package makes use of custom Garret GT30R-based turbochargers with custom billet compressor wheels on ball-bearing center sections in lightweight stainless turbine housings. Switzer's upgraded turbos compress massive amounts of air, while generating heat than the stock units - heat which is channeled to the engine through Switzer's own MONSTER intercoolers. The engine itself is fed air and fuel through larger injectors and a custom intake plenum with an oversized throttle-body. All this hardware is managed by the stock ECU, running Switzer-specific DME software calibrations. Perhaps the most controversial part of Switzer's package, however, is the exhaust system. Switzer's GT2 exhales through a GT2-specific version of the company's existing 997 TT exhaust. "As much as we would have liked to stick with the GT2's titanium canister, there was just no way to hit our power goal on pump gas with the stock system. It was just too restrictive and not designed to handle this much airflow."

Switzer's stated goal for the GT2 project was 800 crank horsepower on 93 octane pump gas with an efficient, linear power curve that efficiently put power to the ground and didn't punish the driver with sudden spikes in torque and power. One look at the final dyno results reveals those goals have been met. "We were very happy to hit our target numbers, of course, but the best part is that the car is still so manageable on the street, at this power level. It is an everyday hyper-performing exotic, and I can't wait to get it out on the track and see how it performs in the hands of a pro driver."

The Switzer Performance 800 hp GT2 Porsche package is available now through Switzer Performance dealers.