The stock Chevy Corvette C7 ZR1 is not a car most mortals can handle on their first time out. 755 horsepower from a supercharged 6.2-liter LT5 V8 fed to the rear wheels alone is not a recipe for a novice driver. But Hennessey Performance doesn't bother much with logic or rational thinking when it comes to their aftermarket performance kit.
It's 'go big or go home' for what's possibly the most famous performance tune-shop in the world. Their claim to fame is top-of-the-line forced induction kits for GM LS/LT V8 applications like Corvettes, Camaros and GM Trucks. Among that set of vehicles, perhaps their HPE1000 ZR1 upgrade kit is the most potent. It's also the scariest to drive in their arsenal.
In spite of the mid-engine C8 Corvette long since usurping the C7, Hennessey will still happily fit a C7 ZR1 with their new and improved LT5 V8 kit. Some publicity shots taken at the Pennzoil Proving Grounds race track show that even if the C7 is now defunct, it's still a very relevant and formidable supercar. Through quick camera work and skillful driving, we see how the newly refined for 2023, 1000-plus horsepower upgrade kit for the C7 generation Corvette can still smoke most anything.
Perhaps it's not the 1,000 horsepower (1,014 ps) but rather the scarcely believable 966 lb-ft (1,310 Nm) of torque that's the most intimidating aspect of this Corvette's repertoire. Or maybe if you're a pedestrian, the throaty roar of high-flow catalytic converters and proper exhaust could also scare the living daylights out of you.
Goodies like a reworked high-flow induction system, new pushrods and lifters, and a new performance tune, and you might wind up eating through the three-year, 36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty well before 36 months have elapsed. If it were ours to drive, most of those miles would pass in a trail of tire smoke while going sideways. On the racetrack, not public roads, of course.
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