We live in a golden age of accessible and insanely overpowered muscle cars. There's the Corvette Z06 making 650 HP, and of course there's the 707 HP SRT Hellcat. But what about those poor bastards who made childhood promises to only drive Fords? Who's thinking of them? John Hennesey is, with his 717 HP Mustang.
Hennessey's Mustang is technically called the HPE700 Supercharged, but chances are you'll just call it the 717 HP Mustang. Or maybe you'll just point and grunt. As the name suggests, the key to getting the Mustang up from a stock 450 HP to a nice and absurd 717 HP was a supercharger, in this case a Roots-type, making 7.25 psi of boost.
The supercharger is good enough to get the V8 to put out, as we keep saying, 717 HP (at 6600 RPM), and 632 lb-ft at 4400 RPM. That's enough to get this not-really-light car to lurch from a standstill to 60 in 3.6 seconds, and run a 1⁄4 mile in 11.2 seconds, at 131 mph.
Here's a bunch of other details from Hennessey:
HPE700 Supercharged 5.0L V8 engine upgrade
- Roots-style supercharger system running 7.25 psi boost (0.5 bar)
- Throttle body upgrade
- Stainless steel exhaust system upgrade
- Upgraded fuel injectors
- Upgraded fuel pump
- Engine management calibration
- 3 year / 36,000 mile warranty
- Serial numbered plaque
- Hennessey, HPE700 & Supercharged emblems
CarbonAerbo carbon fiber bodywork
- CarbonAero front splitter
- CarbonAero side sills
- CarbonAero rear difusser
- CarbonAero rear lip spoiler
Wheels & Tires
- Hennessey H10 Lightweight 20-inch wheels
- Michelin Pilot Super Sport 2 tires
Pricing starts at $59,500 including the base 5.0L Mustang GT, which makes it pretty competitive with America's new crop of batshit insane muscle/sportscars. In fact, the existence of this car almost seems like a conspiracy set up by America's motor journalists to get the three-way comparos they crave so badly.
So, if you were really looking for a car with power figures well beyond your skill level, but just couldn't deal with the fiberglassness of a Corvette or that h-e-double-hockey-sticks word in Mopar's car, you should be pretty delighted.
Plus, 10 HP more!