The American hot-rodders Hennessey were made famous by bolting a set of turbochargers to Dodge Vipers and then tuning them to produce anywhere from 800 to 1000 HP and given the name Venom. Now the tuners are focusing their attention to the new FordTaurus SHO. Because the Taurus is part of Ford’s new Ecoboost family, the turbos now come from the factory, and because the manufacturer’s intention was to increase fuel economy there should be plenty of unused power waiting to be unleashed. Expect to see basic upgrades like intakes, exhausts and even boost controllers at first; but turbo and intercooler upgrades should follow close behind.
The new Ford Taurus SHO is already impressive, sporting a 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V-6 engine that delivers 365 hp at 5,500 rpm and 350 ft.-lbs. of torque at 3,500 rpm. We’ve already seen what Hennessey can do with a Viper, so we’re getting excited about what may come from the family hauler.
Earlier this month we saw Hennessey Performance drop a tuned Chevrolet Corvette ZR1’s supercharged LS9 V8 in a Camaro. What resulted was the 705 hp HPE700. But a Corvette engine in a Camaro, what about the Corvette itself? Well, Hennessey does offer the HPE700’s engine in the lighter Corvette ZR1 (called the ZR700), but there’s also the nuclear option, the 755 hp Corvette ZR550 from Hennessey.
This represents 117 extra hp found in the supercharged 6.2-liter V8. Torque is also up 126 lb.-ft to 730 at 4,000 rpm. Hennessey lists the improvements to the stock car to include a supercharger pulley (increases boost from 11 to 15 psi), blower gasket, K&N air filter, re-program engine management computer, 6600 rpm rev limiter (200 rpm over stock), stainless steel headers, high flow catalytic converters with mid pipes, high Flow cylinder heads, camshaft upgrade, and intercooler system upgrade.
All of this looks great in words, but it’s sooooo much cooler in pictures. This video is of the 705 hp ZR700, so just imaging how much better the ZR750 could be:
General Motors has more adaptable parts then a bin full of Legos. Hennessey Performance Engineering decided to give a little more speed to the Chevrolet Camaro. So it grabbed a Corvette ZR1 supercharged LS9 V8 off the shelf and stuffed it into a Camaro SS body.
It’s called the HPE700, and it puts out 705hp and 717lb-ft of torque (the ZR1 only makes 638 horsepower 595 lb.-ft. of torque.) What Hennessey has done in making the HPE700 surpassed a Camaro Z28. This is like a decedent of the ultra-rare 1969 Camaro ZL1 factory drag racer, which came with a 427 cu.in. V8 that was actually rated around 500 hp.
The HPE700 comes with other performance as well such as 15-inch carbon ceramic brakes, suspension upgrades and Hennessey’s alloy wheels with Michelin PS2 tires. Although not a performance part, the car also gets the nifty see-through hood from the ZR1.
Like the Camaro ZL1, this speed doesn’t come cheap. Hennessey will build one for $109,500, but that also comes with a one day performance driving course to learn how to tame this beast.
Hennessey Performance is known mostly for modifying American muscle, especially the dodge Viper. But there are also foreign cars in the book of tricks, including the Nissan GT-R.
There are two packages: Godzilla 600 and Godzilla 700 costing $11,500 to $18,500 respectively. The package’s names explain all the important information. Hennessey takes the (claimed) 480 hp and upgrades the airflow to get 600 hp in the Godzilla 600, and adds new turbochargers and intercoolers to get 700 hp in the Godzilla 700.
Replacing the the turbochargers and intercoolers will not only probably make Nissan and its warranty devision not too happy, but also could be a little tricky considering Nissan spent about seven years developing the car and the individually-built engine. Let’s hope Hennessey knows what it’s doing.
See a full list of upgrades in the flyers after the jump
The Dodge Challenger SRT8 is the fastest Challenger available, but it seems this didn’t impress the guys from Hennessey Performance Engineering. Although it packs 425 hp, Hennessey thought that the car needed more power. With the help of some new components, they obtained and astonishing 620 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque.
Everything is made possible by the new HPE600 Turbo package, which contains a high-flow ported & polished aluminum cylinder heads, lowered compression ratio, high flow air filter, upgraded fuel pump system, a front mounted air-to-air intercooler and a new stainless-steel 3-inch diameter dual exhaust system. In the interior Henessey added embroidered floor mats, serial numbered dash plaque in interior and engine compartment, embroidered front seat head rests, HPE600 logo on tachometer and speedometer. On the exterior there are Hennessey and HPE600 badges and HPE600 “Hockey Stick” graphics package. Everything at a price of $29,500. Without a donor car, a 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT8 with the complete HPE600 Turbo upgrade starts at $74,950.
This Venom 1000 twin turbo viper was racing a Porsche 911 and coming out of the corner hits the boost and losses control and goes sideways at 150mph. He misses hitting a Hennessey Ford GT by less than 30 feet!
Hennessey Performance, the well known American-based tuner, is thinking to enlarge its collection of custom cars in order to add some Japanese influences to its list. Hennessey’s offer includes some of the most famous brands like Bugatti, Bentley, BMW and Porsche. The new- comers in the list at the moment are the new Lexus IS-F and the
Nissan GT-R coupe.
The first one to be set to lauch by the end of this year is the Lexus. The mod list planned by the tunning company features exhaust, headers, intake upgrades and maybe also a supercharger kit. The standard base starts with 417hp, so given the fact that Hennessey bets always on insane power it is more likely to have the supercharger for certain
not only as a possibility.
The GT-R will follow Lexus but this will happen later as it isn’ t due to leave the shop until 2009. For the Nissan, Hennessey still didn’t reveal any mod list. But taking in consideration that the company plans a tweaked Corvette ZR1 and Camaro for the same year, we can guess that adding some zip to the seriously fast AWD Japanese budget supercar is a fact.
Hennessey is not happy with only creating on of the fastest car in the world (Venom 1000), they also want to start customizing models like Lexus IS-F and Nissan GT-R. Lets face it after all, they are a big challenge for any tuner.
The Lexus IS-F tuning kit will be unveiled next week. The kit will include Air Induction Kits, Stainless Headers & Exhaust Systems, Ported Cylinder Heads, Supercharger Systems & More.
Also high on his list of tuning prospects are such current and near-future performance vehicles as the Cadillac CTS-V, the Chevrolet Camaro, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and the Nissan GT-R. The ZR1, with its supercharged LS9 6.2-liter V8, holds significant promise, Hennessey believes, with the potential to deliver 700-plus horsepower.
is not even a month since Dodge launched the Challenger SRT8 and Hennesey already worked under its hood to upgrade the performance. With 715 hp and 750 lbs-ft the SRT700 Turbo makes the 0 - 60 mph sprint in 3.5 seconds and can hit a top speed of 190 mph.
Neiman Marcus Direct announced that it is partnering with Hennessey Performance Engineering to introduce the 2008 Neiman Marcus Special Edition Hennessey Venom 700NM. The 2008 Special Edition Hennessey Venom will be featured in the spring Neiman Marcus Men’s Catalog and will retail for $179.500.
The 2008 Special Edition Hennessey Venom 700NM features jet black paint with a 200-mph tested rear wing and Venom 700NM badges. Inside, custom details include black and red leather appointments, a numbered limited-edition dash plaque, embroidered floor mats and matching luggage. Underhood, there’s a custom engine featuring 700 horsepower with 645 lb-ft torque, that can attain 0-60 mph in 3.3 seconds.
"The Venom 700NM offers world-class power, performance and looks in typical Hennessey style. We are very excited about our new partnership with Neiman Marcus.” said John Hennessey, President, Hennessey Performance Engineering. Only seven Venom 700NM Vipers will be made and the price includes one day of high-performance driving school at Lonestar Motorsports Park.
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