Hennessey Performance is wasting no time making big plans to put their finishing touches on the barely just unveiled C7 ZR1 Corvette. A month old (to the public eye) today, if you weren’t willing to settle for the measly supercar performance of the 2019 ZR1, you can opt for a higher-horsepower version, thanks to the makers of the Exorcist. Sure it’s the highest horsepower Corvette ever made, and the most track-capable yet, but why settle when Hennessey Performance is already hard at work to push the ZR1 into the quadruple digits.
In all likelihood, Hennessey Performance probably started plotting away on how to go-badder with the ZR1 long before the covers came off at the Dubai Motor Show in November. Since everything is bigger and faster at their headquarters in Texas, the company is going to offer three new upgrade packages for the super Vette that start with the HPE850, HPE1000, and HPE1200. As you may have guessed, the numbers behind the Hennessey Performance call out aren’t just arbitrary part numbers.
The least powerful of the group pushes the ZR1 up an extra 95-horsepower for a total output of 850-horsepower. This kit includes a new intake, better valve springs, new pushrods and lifters, high-flow cylinder heads, and a modified lower pulley. The next package up has these parts, plus a modified supercharger to bring it to a cool 1,000-horsepower.
Then there’s the most magnificent of them all, the HPE1200 1,200-horsepower kit that gives the ZR1 a supercharged 7.0L V8 and 2.2 seconds 0-60 mph time and 1/4 time of 9.2 seconds. This major overhaul also includes lots of other upgrades, like long-tube headers, high-flow catalytic converters, custom pistons, and a custom crankshaft.
This street-legal ultra-supercar kit wraps the Corvette in custom badging, serial-numbered dash and plaques, and a one-year, 12,000-mile limited warranty. With sales of the ZR1 starting in the spring of 2018, delivery of the Hennessey Performance HPE1200 will likely happen during by the beginning of the summer. When Hennessey Performance said they were “Making fast cars faster”, they weren’t kidding!
Shawn Henry is a Texas native who has spent the majority of his career building and selling F-Bodies and Corvettes. Now studying journalism, he is taking a new direction with his love of GM Performance vehicles.
