The 2009 Corvette ZR1 is Coming! So Sayeth Hennessey, Reveals 678 HP Venom 650R

Somehow we think maybe the 2009 Corvette ZR1 pre-Detroit Auto Show embargo will be lifting sometime very soon. It's the only explanation we can come up with for why Nissan felt compelled to have an embargo on the 2009 GTR's Z06-beating Edmunds Inside Line 0-60 test lift late last night. OK, maybe that was just a freak scheduling thing — but then, like a bolt out of the blue devil, we received a press release just past midnight from Hennessey Performance Engineering calling out the Lutzian devil with the blue highlighted engine. Apparently they weren't quite done with the 2008 Viper SRT10. The boys at Hennessey came up with an additional 78 horsepower to add atop the straight-from-the-shelf 600 found in the fang-toothed serpent, bringing the total horses up to a staggering 678 and a 0-60 time to match that of the 3.3-second GT-R. It's called the 2008 Hennessey Venom 650R, and oh, how they rushed this one to bed — someone check out the gaping hole below the jump in the press release for "fill in original Viper model name here". Yes, somehow methinks these won't be the only high horsepower numbers we'll be comparing by the time we hit the hay tonight. More »