Sealy, Texas - John Hennessey has always said that his job is making fast cars go faster. Well, this time he’s really outdone himself.
What you are watching is a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 fitted with Hennessey’s new twin-turbo HPE1000 package, being put through its paces at the Pennzoil proving grounds in Sealy, Texas, home to Hennessey Performance.
As its name suggests, the HPE1000 kit boosts the power of the standard 5.2-litre V8 from 387kW to a whiplash-inducing 735kW - or in American terms, a cool one thousand horsepower; hence the name.
Hennessey doesn’t give any details of what he does to the GT350’s bent eight to almost double its output (other than the two gynormous hairdriers, of course) but from the vacuum-cleaner whine of the turbos, the the howl of the drainpipe-sized tailpipes, and the bad-tempered popping and banging on the overrun that you can clearly hear over the synthetic rock ‘n roll backing track, it’s running way outside its comfort zone.
And unless it’s had some equally serious chassis upgrades to help keep all that muscle under control, it’ll be running way outside our comfort zone too - as well as that of any driver who runs his car other than in a straight line, 402 metres at a time.