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IN TEXAS, everything is meant to be bigger and better.
Or, if Hennessey Performance has anything to do with it, significantly faster too.
The Sealy-based performance tuner is blurring the lines between the muscle car and hypercar with its new Venom 1200 Mustang GT500. Of course, the Shelby GT500 that it’s based on was already the fastest factory-produced Mustang of all time, and the Hennessey upgrade takes things up a notch, or 20.
As its name suggests, the latest Hennessey Venom produces 1 204bhp (when fuelled with E85 Ethanol), which equates to 898kw, while maxdimum torque is raised to a massive 1 223Nm. Fuelled with normal 93 Octane petrol, the Venom produces 671kw.
To achieve these significantly raised outputs the tuner made extensive modifications to the supercharged Shelby 5.2-litre V8 engine, which produces 567kw in its stock form.
In addition to a higher capacity 3.8-litre supercharger, Hennessey has installed a high-flow induction system, as well as new fuel rails and injectors. Reassuringly, the belts and tensioners have been upgraded for their new high-output role too, as has the calibration of the dual-clutch gearbox.
Hennessey isn’t mentioning any performance numbers, but with the regular GT500 being capable of a sub-11-second quarter-mile time, and 3.5 second 0-96km/h sprint, you can expect some seriously good times at the drag strip in the Venom 1200.
“The stock Shelby GT500 is an extraordinary muscle car, but we take it to the nth degree with our Venom 1200,” said company founder John Hennessey.
“Our engineers were able to coax more than 400 additional horsepower out of the engine, which takes performance to supercar levels.
“Only a handful of vehicles in the world offer this level of power … especially at this price point.”
Exclusivity is assured as Hennessey is producing just 66 examples of the Venom 1200 package, which is priced at $59 950 (R1.1 million) in the US, excluding the price of the base car, of course.