so they re-work the entire exhaust system, put in a K&N air filter, and a lightweight brake rotor upgrade.

for some reason, this seems lackluster to me, i thought hennessey went more all-out than this.

how about combining these things with a revised intake manifold, camshaft, ECU, lightweight wheels, & a stiffer, more performance oriented suspension?

if they got 78 HP from what they already did...imagine what they would get if in addition they did what i mentioned. NOW we'd be talkin' :-)

naaah, these cars are already pushed to the max. To squeeze more juice out of them is often more that difficult. You have to do some trade-in to get that extra performace, we'll see in a few years what deal they've made with what demon.

now this is a battle. =)

I don't know, why must American manufacturers all focus on straight-line performance? When they do, their cars' suspensions get screwed up because they assume that all cars need to go straight. Why do we have NASCAR? There is no skill at all in NASCAR when you compare it to the likes of the Japanese Super GT or the DTM. Sure, more horsepower is welcome, but they could have at least touched or looked at the suspension?

Because American sports cars (vet/viper/top lvl mustang) already handle awesome. The viper is heavy. That is life.

Have you driven a vet? I haven't. I drove a GTO which is much heavier and that thing was tight and had a decent ride.

I'm waiting for their real venom. Like the 1000+HP TT version they had out for the 06 and 07 models that hit 0-60 in about 2.4 seconds.

I'm waiting for their real venom. Like the 1000+HP TT version they had out for the 06 and 07 models that hit 0-60 in about 2.4 seconds.

@bear

Dodge doesn't really push the limit of engineering on the Viper v10 engines, and this Hennessey package is proof of that. Examples of engines that pushed to the max are the S2000 F20C, E46 M3 I6, and the new Audi RS4 engine. Breathing upgrades don't do much for these engines, except perhaps shift the powerband around.

If changing the exhaust and intake can net 78hp(even on a large engine like the Viper's), then that's a good sign of conservation in engineering when designing the car. You won't often see a complete exhaust system and intake give more than 10hp on the M3 or S2000 engines. Many won't even give 5hp.

Remember, maxing out an engine nowadays means surpassing at least 100hp/liter. The Viper V10 makes only 71hp/liter. There's plenty of room for improvement.

It would be nice to see Hennessey come out with a new Venom. Maybe 1500hp this time? And an even bigger torque figure? It'd be nice...

"Eddie:
I don't know, why must American manufacturers all focus on straight-line performance? When they do, their cars' suspensions get screwed up because they assume that all cars need to go straight. Why do we have NASCAR? There is no skill at all in NASCAR when you compare it to the likes of the Japanese Super GT or the DTM. Sure, more horsepower is welcome, but they could have at least touched or looked at the suspension?"

It's comments like that prove people just bash american cars without even having a clue about exactly what they can do. here's some handling numbers on a stock 08 Viper.

08 Dodge Viper: 74.3 mph slalom, .99g skidpad

Now here's the numbers on a few other high end sports cars, not a single one can handle better than the Viper thru the slalom and only the extremely light Lotus Elise can beat it's skidpad, and only by .01g.

07 Porsche 911 turbo: 68.3mph slalom, .92g skidpad
08 Audi R8: 69.2mph slalom, .96g skidpad
07 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano F1: 71.2mph slalom, .97g skidpad
07 Lamborghini Murcielago Roadster LP640: 70.5mph slalom, .96g skidpad
09 Nissan Skyline GT-R: 72.9mph slalom, ?? skidpad
08 Subaru Impreza WRX STI: 72.0 slalom, .90g skidpad
05 Lotus Elise: 73.2 slalom, 1.00g skidpad

They forgot one thing. To not make it look like crap.

Jason:

That's not true about bolt-ons for the BMW or S2000 both of which benefit quite a bit. 50 RWHP for the M3 once it's re-tuned which is over well 400 HP at the motor. Before the mods the dyno run was 315 RWHP after little over 365. I don't know much about the others

I witnessed this myself when my car was being tuned. I have heard about similar result with full exhaust for the s2000 the torque-less wonder. Oh yeah the M3 ran with hi-flo cats.

The funny thing is other's have kits for the vette, modding is just that and not production.

Japs cars are always overated on horse power, just like the rest of everything they made ( receivers, audio equipments..). The S2000 was rated at 240HP@8000 red line. Who in the right mind would drive around town @ 8000 rpm all the freaking time? Tell me if you like to keep your foot on the floor all the time. Also, lots of dyno tests show that the S2000 only average about 200hpish. Look at american sport cars and check their max hp @ what rpm, then come back and start talking craps. Also, hp is not the only thing when considering pure power. Now lets look at the 6.7L Cummins turbo diesel, 610 lb-ft @1600 rpm, and 325 hp @ 2900 rpm. It does all that and still gets 18-22 mpg.Diesel is the future!

Give Hennessey some time, damn it, and soon you'll see monstrosity like the 1000hp Hennessey Viper....

@Eddie:
your statement shows that you are as ignorant as people saying that blacks can't play hockey or white men can't jump.....
*shaking head in utter disappointment*

Different cars make ZOOM in different ways. It depends on what you classify as "fun."

Some people love revving their car up to 8000rpm, and some find it annoying. No point in bashing one car's zoom production to another's. As long as the numbers are decent, I'd say.

I'm in the low-rev power bandwagon, however.

@RX-7 Guy

Not to call you a liar, but 365 wheel hp seems a little much for the bimmer after a re-tune with some mods. I've been to bimmerfest twice and hung around the dyno comp most of the time. The average dyno for a stock E46 was like 260whp(I was disappointed). Turner Motorsports also has some dyno runs of a daily E46 that they built up, their initial dyno run netted something like 255whp. I've seen boosted M3's reach acheive that power (315whp), but not NA. Actually, there was an e46 prepped for ITR that was supposed to make like 420hp, but it was race only and the engine only lasts half a season.

@Noblekitty

The Japanese rate their engines just as truthfully as American Manufacturers. In other words, they all lie a little bit. Actually, it seems Toyota and Nissan under-rate their vehicles, at least for the MR-S, MKIV Supra, Celica GT4, all Skyline GT-Rs, Silvias, and Gloria's/Cedric. All of these cars dyno'd a bit higher than expected, mostly due to the agreement to limit to 286hp.
As for your comment about the S2000, no one would drive their car around town at 8000rpm. They would do that at the track. In normal driving, the S2000 is about as sluggish as a Civic. However, bang it down a gear and floor it and the engine will show its mettle. It's an "enthusiasts" car, not a bound grocery getter. Same as when you see grandpa driving his C6 corvette 10mph under the speed limit. Isn't he fine cruising at 1200rpm and making 100hp? Does he really need 400hp? Most likely not, but it's there if he needs to fly to the store to get some diapers or bengay.
Also, do you understand the relationship between horsepower and torque? Horsepower is a function of torque, in other words, it's torque expressed in a degree of time. If you read up on it a bit, you will understand why hp can be a more effective way of measuring power.
Plus, a diesel engine is in a whole different ballpark. And you gave the highway rating of the Cummins engine by the way. If you want a comparison and a reason diesel isn't so popular, the current Dodge Viper is spec'd at 600hp, 525lbs of torque, 12/21mpg, and 8.4liter NA. So far, it's down 100ft/lb of torque, up 275hp, has around the same mileage, and is naturally aspirated. Not to mention it has another 3000rpm or so to play with, or almost double the rev range of the 6.7l Cummins. The diesel argument begins to break down. Plus, it's more efficient to convert a barrel of oil into gasoline than into diesel. You actually end up losing 1/5 of the material when refining into diesel. Like, 5 barrels of oil equal 5 barrels of gasoline, but only 4 barrels diesel.
I actually do like diesel engines. Only small eficient ones though, like around 2 liters. They can rev high enough and produce hp figures similiar to their gas counterparts, while still making unnautural torque.
But who can't appreciate a big 8.4l making 600hp?

Sorry everbody, didn't mean to filibuster this thread. This is almost as long as a BMW press release...

Hmmm, I thought that diesel and gasoline were produced at the same time from the same crude but just distilled at different temperatues in the distilling chamber of the refinery.

@Jason

Did you make all that up on the spot? It's really good if so, but anyone with a high school diploma knows you're full of it.

"Horsepower is a function of torque, in other words, it's torque expressed in a degree of time."

What does "a degree of time" even mean? Would you like to elaborate on what a degree of time actually is?
What kind of education do you have? Horsepower is work which is a force over a distance, torque is the tenancy to rotate or "rotation force". They are functions of other variables but not each other that is why they are represented separately.

Also you may want to look up the process of refining crude oil because during this process both gasoline and diesel fuel are produced at the same time; along with kerosene, natural gas, fuel oil and magical chemicals.

ambitiouse but rubbinsh

*** Points the mic over to Jason for his rebuttal (as the crowd goes "ooohhhhhh buuurrrnnnnn" ***

Ted-

You're not correct about the HP/torque relationship. HP is torque per unit time. Typically, "time" is measured in rpm since we're talking about engines (but it doesn't have to be). 1 HP = 550 ft-lbs/second.

HP = (torque x rpm)/5252, if you do a little math from the relationship above. That's why EVERY dyno graph you have ever seen causes the HP and torque curves to cross at 5252 rpm.

The are directly related.....connected together simply by how fast the engine is spinning.

HP is more of a marketing tool, torque is where it's at. That's why the 240 HP S2000 is a total pig. It has no torque. It has the same acceleration as a 1992 camaro that has about the same HP and is carrying around 900 pounds more weight.

japanese manufactors underrated their engines? i thought it was the japanese who all lost hp figures under sae certified rating. the 2002 camry was shot downfrom 210 to 190, the same rating it had before they "redesigned" the engine. subaru sti got knocked down from 300 to 293. most of them lost between 7 and 10 hp while the american ones lost or gained some. taurus 3.0 when to 203, z06 went to 505. even when the new nissan altima was released, magazines were saying how the ratings were low compared to newer cars because of the new rating. they didnt have to make that apology for domestics .

Isn't the zr-1 a stock vette? The Hennessy is modified. BFD!! You can take the Callaway or Lingenfelter vettes which are modified and get more horse and torque as well. It is what is stock that counts

Can't wait to get paid!