Hennessey Tuned Corvette ZR1 Makes Over 1,000 HP And It Sounds Epic

With 755 horsepower (563 kilowatts) straight from the factory, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is already among the most powerful street cars you can buy today. Anyone familiar with Hennessey Performance knows that too much is never enough for the Texas tuner, hence the video above showing a white ZR1 generating 905 hp (675 kW) on a dyno. The number is certainly impressive, but we dare any octane-blooded petrolhead to not get shivers listening to this supercharged LT5 engine belting out its 6,800-rpm song. Seriously folks, find the best sound system you can and turn the volume up – way up.

Now, when we say 905 hp, keep in mind that this is measured at the rear wheels. A stock Corvette ZR1 generally makes around 655 hp (488 kW) at the tire, and in fact, this actual car generated pretty much that exact figure as a baseline run. This means the high-revving pushrod engine in this dirty sounding 'Vette is actually producing well over 1,000 hp (746 kW) – hence it being the first HPE1000 ZR1 to emerge from the tuning shop.

Sadly, we don't know exactly what's involved in creating this monster machine. A video from Hennessey earlier in April showed the car making 715 hp (533 kW) at the wheels with just an upgraded cold air intake and an engine tune – an improvement of 61 hp from the stock vehicle. Presumably, jumping nearly 200 more hp requires some hardware changes and additional boost, and the exhaust certainly breathes freely on this tuned machine.

The Corvette ZR1 is Chevrolet's swan song to the iconic front-engined American sports car. On July 18 the automaker is prepared to reveal the next-generation C8 Corvette, which as we all know by now will move the engine to the middle of the car for the first time in the model's history. It was initially believed that Chevrolet would continue to build front-engined Corvettes alongside the mid-engine model for at least a little while, but that no longer seems the case. At least it's going out with a tremendous bang.