Hennessey’s Venom 1200 Is an Awesome Upgrade to the Ford Mustang GT500

Ok, I admit that if pushed a little, I’d have to say I prefer the classic sixties Ford Mustang, but that’s partly due to Steve McQueen in Bullitt, and the beautifully recorded sound of those gear changes. But time moves on and (in part because of films like Bullitt) the Ford Mustang has never failed to impress – and to instil a feeling of unattainable desire in most petrolheads.

The current Ford Mustang is fantastic of course – and now Texas-based Hennessey Performance has once again taken something impressive and made it just a little bit more impressive. The famous Ford muscle car is not in short supply of the wow factor under any circumstances, but this is something special. As company founder and CEO John Hennessey says: “Our engineers were able to coax more than 400 additional horsepower out of the engine, which takes performance up to supercar levels.”

Hennessey Performance has got about 30 years’ worth of quality experience in taking high-end ‘stock’ performance cars and making them go just a bit faster but getting a massive power boost of around 58 percent over the official figures of an already excellently performing Mustang GT500 is very impressive. I can’t help but wonder if Hennessey’s engineers have surprised themselves a little more than expected with these figures too.

Hennessey Performance has named this beast the Venom 1200 and coaxed 1,204bhp out of it along with 902lb ft torque. The Ford Mustang GT500 donor car would normally provide 760bhp, so that’s a clear and hefty increase in power. Hennessey asks that you only put E85 rated fuel into this engine to get the full benefits available; it’s all about the high pressures in the cylinders and assisting in preventing the Mustang’s uprated 5.2-litre V8 engine from overheating.

Among the upgrades, Hennessey has given the Venom 1200 a 3.8-litre supercharger and high-flow induction system, along with new injectors and fuel rails, plus an air and oil separation system. The dual clutch transmission has also been recalibrated to cope with the huge increase in power. Additionally, lines, belts and fittings and tensioners have all been upgraded. Once the full upgrade is completed and the Mustang become a Venom 1200, the company test the supercar using its own in-house dynamometer and then fully road-test it.

You won’t be surprised to find out that the cost of owning such a powerful Mustang GT will necessitate owning a large and deep wallet, as the upgrade will set you back around $59,000 – that’s around £51,000 as I write, but that could change of course in the current climate! Incidentally, Hennessey also offers a slightly less powerful version called the Venom 1000 with a mere 1,000bhp and 860lb ft of torque.

Images: hennesseyperformance.com