Hennessey Starts Production of H850 Mustang Dark Horse; Can You Guess the 1/4-Mile ET?

When it arrived last summer on the market, the S650 seventh-generation Ford Mustang clearly had the chops to make the American pony car great again – despite the untimely departure of the sixth-generation Chevy Camaro and L-bodied Dodge Charger and Challenger rivals later that December. Now, of course, since Ford itself announced a $325k Ford Mustang GTD on top of the 315-hp EcoBoost, up to 486-hp Mustang GT, and 500-hp Dark Horse, the aftermarket realm is eager to prove it a true blue-blooded 'supercar.'

Back in April, Shelby American made the news rounds with the promised 830+ horsepower supercharged Mustang featuring the iconic Super Snake moniker – but Sealy, Texas-based Hennessey had announced their H850 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse build since last summer. Now, after stuff like the Mammoth 1200 Ram 1500 TRX, 1,000-hp Velociraptor 1000 Ford F-150 Raptor R, or the 1,000-hp Cadillac CTS-V Blackwing 'destroyer of tires,' it's time to focus on the H850 Mustang Dark Horse.

The first thing they did after the new series finally entered production was to give it the dyno treatment – where the regular Mustang Dark Horse has 427.61 hp and 379.08 lb-ft (433.54 PS and 513.96 Nm) at the rear tires and the H850 now packs a monstrous 712 hp at 7,490 RPM and 569 lb-ft at 4,700 RPM at the wheels. Of course, the crank rating is 850 horsepower – all taken from the legendary 5.0-liter Coyote V8 and supported by a 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger and all the usual enhancements prepared by the world-renowned tuner. Now, though, let's focus on even more figures because the company has also announced the official performance data for their supercharged H850 steed.

The official tests by reviewers have revealed that a regular Dark Horse can push to 60 mph (96 kph) in just 3.7 seconds (auto) and cover the standing quarter mile in 12 seconds at over 118 mph – that's not good enough to beat the 495-hp C8 Chevy Corvette Stingray that consistently drops under the three-second marker from zero to 60 and then rockets through the quarter-mile marker in just 11.2 seconds if you do a perfect pass. However, the H850 by Hennessey is in a Ford Mustang Dark Horse league of its own.

More precisely, it will do the 60-mph task in 3.2 seconds and complete the standing quarter mile in 10.9 seconds at 133 mph thanks to its 850 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque. The H850 Mustang Dark Horse is available with both the six-speed manual and the ten-speed automatic transmission, and all units will be backed by Hennessey's three-year / 36,000-mile limited warranty.