Hennessey's Monsters

When Chevrolet reintroduced the Corvette Stingray – also known as the Corvette (C7) or seventh generation Corvette – in 2014, it was like making the jump from VHS to Blu-Ray. What was once stale and slightly mundane had become ferocious and beautiful. With a new aluminum chassis and a redesigned carbon fiber hood, the Stingray’s 50/50 weight balance and horsepower rating puts it on equal footing with that of the Porsche 911 and Audi R8, allowing speed junkies to get their fix for almost $40,000 dollars less than its European counterparts. Under the hood is GM’s new LT1 6.2 liter small block V8, which produces 455 horsepower and 460 lb-ft of torque, launching the car from 0 to 60 in 3.8 seconds. If that’s not fast enough for you the Z06 option allows you to opt for more speed with the LT4 6.2 liter V8, which is supercharged and takes the horsepower up to 650 with 650 lb-ft of torque, giving it a 0 to 60 time of just 2.95 seconds. Yeah, that’s fast. That puts it at less than 70 horsepower below Dodge’s new Hellcat engine. Then, just when you thought the car couldn’t get any better, Hennessey came along and proved us all wrong.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Hennessey Performance, they were founded in 1991 by John Hennessey, who like most gear heads, had one desire, and that was to go faster. His early modifications on turbocharged imports impressed enthusiasts everywhere, one of which owned a Dodge Viper and was looking to give it a little extra push. John agreed to tune the man’s car and added about 100 horsepower to its 10-cylinder engine, giving birth to the Hennessey Venom 500 Viper. From there he went on to Fords, Cadillacs, and Chevrolets. He’s customized cars for celebrities and started a certified Tuner School for people interested in careers in aftermarket performance tuning. What started out as a one-man operation based out of an apartment, now has thirty employees and a 30,000 square foot facility with enough high tech equipment to build an army of these high performance monsters. One thing is for sure, after sending your car to Hennessey Performance, it’ll never be the same.

The Corvette has recently undergone such a change. The Stingray comes in two upgrade packages. The first one, the HPE650 supercharged upgrade comes with a 2.3 liter supercharger system that brings the engine up to an impressive 663 bhp. The HPE700 supercharged upgrade comes with the same 2.3 liter supercharger system, high flow cylinder heads, and the HPE700 Camshaft. Together, this gives its engine a roaring 708 bhp. But wait, there’s more. If you’d like to upgrade your Z06, there are three different Hennessey Performance options. The HPE750 upgrade package changes the pulley, adds high flow cylinder heads, and upgrades the intercooler heat exchanger, bringing the engine up to 750 bhp. The HPE850 upgrade package includes a 2.9 liter supercharger system, a custom HPE camshaft, ported cylinder heads, an intercooler upgrade, an intercooler heat exchanger upgrade, long-tube stainless steel headers, stainless steel midpipes, a high flow catalytic converter, and a Hennessey custom hood. This brings the engine to a total of 850 bhp. Finally, the HPE1000 upgrade option comes with all of the above and forged pistons and steel rods, bringing the engine to an immense 1000 bhp.

What does it all cost, you might be wondering? Not a whole lot. At the end of the day it would set buyers back an extra $10,000 to $20,000 dollars depending on what upgrade option you choose, which still puts you below the $100,000 dollar price range. Is it for everybody? No. Is it nice to have? You bet it is. Aside from tremendous outputs of speed, all Hennessey packages comes with serial-numbered dash and engine plaques, as well as a 1 year/12,000 mile warranty, making it well worth the money, but not a necessity for an already fast car.

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