Making fast cars faster
By Nauman Farooq

Hennessey Performance has been around for awhile now. They first made headlines when they started tuning the Dodge Viper back in the early 1990’s. They had turned a fast car into an absurdly fast car.

Hennessey Performance

In recent years they have tuned everything from Chevrolet Corvette’s to the Ford F-150 Raptor truck. But these masters of speed weren’t content, and they recently began work on a project that would require more than just adding some turbos and superchargers.

The result is the Hennessey Venom GT, a fully modified version of the Lotus Elise. While it shares some basic structure to the Elise, the Venom GT is much bigger and packs a 1000 hp punch.

Having just completed this project, Hennessey were all set to unveil their latest creation at the 2010 New York International Auto Show. Sadly, the only piece they have was sitting in England and they weren’t able to ship it to New York in time for the show.

To fill up the space they had, they brought along some of their other modified muscle cars.

Most notable among which is the new Chevrolet Camaro HPE700. This limited edition Camaro (only 24 will be built) features the engine out of the Corvette ZR1. Now just installing this mammoth motor into a pony car would normally be enough, but the guys at Hennessey can’t be described as normal. They tweaked this 6.2-liter, supercharged V8 to produce 725 hp and 741 lb/ft of torque. As a result, this Camaro can go from 0-100 km/h in just 3.5 seconds, and covers the ¼-mile in 11.3 seconds, while doing 202 km/h. Keep the pedal buried until it runs out of gears, and you’ll see speeds reaching 330 km/h.

So be in no doubt, this is one serious muscle car. To ensure you don’t confuse it with just another ordinary Camaro, Hennessey has given the car unique 20-inch wheels, but most notably, the nose is modified with a new grille that even covers the headlamps. The look is very menacing indeed and gives a hint of the aggression this car has.

But what if Camaro’s are not your choice of muscle car, what if you prefer the Dodge Challenger? Hennessey has you covered there too.

Their Challenger HPE600 features a supercharger bolted onto the 6.1-liter HEMI, V8. End result as you’ve guessed it is 600 hp. It also produces 585 lb/ft of torque, which would come in handy when overtaking slower moving traffic.

The modification to the Challenger’s looks are a bit more subtle. The hood scoop is the easiest giveaway, but also spot the unique wheels and lowered suspension.

These modifications and plenty more are available for your car right now, so if you fancy tuning your muscle car, check them out.