The Devel Sixteen has been subject to some pretty serious controversy over the past few years. After all, a 5,000-horsepower supercar does seem a little…well…. unrealistic, if I’m being nice about it. But, then we saw that video of the 5,000-horsepower engine on the dyno and things started to seem a little more real. The car did debut back in 2017 in Dubai, but that was little more than a revamped version of the prototype that debuted a few years back. Be that as it may, and as crazy as this sounds, the Devel Sixteen is now a true-to-life, according-to-Hoyle, put-you-in-your-seat supercar that really functions and drives down the road.

How do we know? Well, SuperCar Blondie just became the very first person outside of Devel’s manufacturing tree to get behind the wheel and take it down the road. Of course, this is probably the only complete model in existence, so she didn’t get to…uhem… beat on it (giggity), but she really did drive it. And, let me tell you, that thing sounds outrageously mean. After all, it should, right? That engine, which can be tuned to deliver between 3,000 and 5,000+ horsepower, is the most powerful engine out there in terms of supercars or hypercars. To put that into perspective, here’s a breakdown anyone can understand.

1 Devel Sixteen = 3.333333 Bugatti Chirons

1 Devel Sixteen = 3.7285 Koenigsegg One:1s

1 Devel Sixteen = Almost 5 McLaren Speedtails.

Yeah, it’s really that intense, and it does so via a V-16 quad-turbo engine with a custom designed billet engine block, cylinder heads, crankshaft, and camshaft.

Now, the real question is – when the engine’s full power is unleashed, is the car actually driveable? You see Blondie cruising down the road pretty well, but what happens if you get a little heavy-footed? What happens if you want to unleash the fury and drive it like you stole it? And, more importantly, if it’s drivable at full grunt, will it be the first car to break the 300-mph barrier, beating out Hennessey, Buggati, and anyone else with even an ice cube’s chance in hell of ever coming close to that record?

Only time will tell, friends, but it looks like the Devel Sixteen isn’t so much of a wet dream anymore, now is it?

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2018 Devel Sixteen.