C8 Stingray Racing H700 Hennessey Twin Is a Dogfight Between a Crop Duster and an F-22

Recently, the same congregation of piston crafters demonstrated – with video exhibits – just how much difference is between the base C8 and the Hennessey H700 Supercharged Stingray. Although the tuners haven’t mentioned any times, leaving us with nothing more than a brief visual appreciation, it’s pretty eloquent.

Stats first: a factory-built eighth-generation Chevrolet Corvette Stingray produces 490 hp and 465 lb-ft (497 PS, 630 Nm) from a 6.2-liter V8. The mid-mounted powerplant can be convinced to spit out some extra small-change performance, with an improved exhaust – taking the numbers to 495 hp and 470 lb-ft (502 PS, 637 Nm).

Not too bad - for an American engine, anyway, as far more powerful V8s of similar displacement have long been powering supercars of the world for decades. But Hennessey cut corners and decided to take the engine performance to the next technological level.

In brilliant Texan fashion, they chose the clever solution – put a supercharger on the small-block. The alternative would have been to tweak and re-engineer every single component, fabricate new parts using high-strength materials, play with the electronics incessantly, and settle for whatever they could achieve.

It sounds high-tech and complicated, intricate, and laser surgery-accurate – but not American. The complicated approach is more fittingly attributed to Asian supercarmakers or European fine-dining speed shops. However, America didn’t become the largest superpower by counting coins and dimes.

The cowboys don’t have time to waste – get the job done, get it done right, and get it done fast. You don’t conquer the East (that’s where Europe and Asia are if you look from Texas) at snail speed. So, they slammed a blower in the Stingray and turn it into a marlin (that’s the fastest fish on the planet).

The video below is proof enough that the aquanaut-eponymous half-brothers from Chevrolet are similar, but they don’t run elbows together. The stock Stingray is not a turtle-paced supercar, but the Hennessey makes it look like it fried a piston before the drag race.

The difference in power and torque is immediately evident in the 1,320-foot sprint. The H700 Hennessey has 708 hp (go figure what that 700 in the name is for) and 638 lb-ft of crank-turning stamina. That’s 718 PS and 865 Nm after the tuners cast their upgrading spell.

The Lone-Star state-based speed addicts from Sealey added a high-flow centrifugal supercharger, an air-to-water intercooler for the high-capacity air intake system, and a cat-back exhaust. With the hardware in place and a remapped ECU, their Stingray-spawned H700 delivers 44 percent more horsepower and 37 percent extra torque.

Although the mathematics sound impressive, they’re a flea-circus performance compared to the track test. The bone-stock C8 has a sprint time of around three seconds from zero to sixty mph (97 kph), yet look at how fast it falls behind the H700. The standing quarter could best be described as CGI - “Continuous Gapping Incident.” The roll race doesn’t bring anything new to the plot – the free-breathing V8 is check-mate after about three feet past the start line.

Hennessey made it simple for all of us: it’s either black or white, with no shade of gray in the middle (in this particular before-and-after comparison, the metaphor is backed by literal sense). The white H700 is so dominant over the black Stingray that we can only look forward to the moment a Z06 will pick up the gauntlet and enter the Texas chainsaw massacre.

But before the naturally-aspirated 5.5-liter V8 whiplashes its 670-hp-strong (680 PS) stud and blazes the 460 lb-ft (624 Nm) caliber of its 180-degree-offset rod-bearing journals, two H700 Hennessey C8 Corvette packages are available.

The essential power-only upgrade costs $34,950 and contains the supercharger upgrade and 36-month/36,000-mile warranty. That’s just under 58k kilometers, should any metric-thinking interested party want to make a purchase.

The full-option choice adds the intercooler, engine tune, lightweight wheels, cat-back exhaust, and Hennessey graphics – available for 50 bucks short of 50 grand. $49,950 for 221 extra hp and 173 lb-ft (235 Nm) of supplementary torque. And a Hennessey of a lot more performance, as the video shows.