Hennesey Supercharged Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Leaves Stock GT500 in the Dust

Other people might like the "all motor" approach of the GT350 and revel in the fact it broke the 100 hp per liter record for naturally aspirated Ford engines while also becoming the most powerful Blue Oval model with an atmospheric engine. That's quite a collection of titles, but the GT500 has one of its own: the most powerful Ford ever created.

Knowing the GT350 has a 5.2-liter and that it gets more than 100 hp per liter is enough information to suggest the model is far from lacking in power. Indeed, the Voodoo V8 can pump out up to 533 hp and a massively impressive (for a non-force-fed engine) 429 lb-ft (582 Nm) of torque. It's enough to give the GT350 a 0-60 mph (0-96 kph) acceleration of 4.2 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph (250 kph) that, as the figure suggests, is electronically limited.

However impressive all that might sound, the GT350 was never really about the numbers. It's all about driving it, connecting with the machine, something made immensely easier by the six-speed manual transmission and the instant throttle response - the kind that only a high-revving naturally aspirated engine can provide. And then there's the sound.

Hennessey's take on the Shelby GT350 makes plenty of noise, too, but in its own way. You see, the famous tuner added the "missing" supercharger (a 3.0-liter system), meaning the whole nature of the vehicle is now changed. So is its power output, though, which, at 870 hp, is now 110 hp greater than the GT500's.

The HPE850, the name used by Hennessey for this upgrade, is now a true beast on the drag strip as well. According to the company, the supercharged Mustang GT350 will reach the benchmark speed of 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds and clear the entire quarter-mile in 10.8 seconds with a trap speed of 133 mph (214 km). Not bad for a rear-wheel-drive car with a manual transmission. Oh, and as we've said before: then, there's the sound.