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How Hennessey’s “HPE1000” Tuning Kit Dials up the McLaren 765LT to 1,000 HP

The visual tweaks are minor, as they should be on a car that looks as gorgeous as the 765LT.
HPE1000 34 photos
Photo: Hennessey Performance
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McLaren’s ferocious 765LT is one incredible piece of machinery straight off the production line. Its 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 powerplant produces as much as 755 hp at 7,500 rpm, along with a monstrous torque output of up to 590 pound-feet (800 Nm) at around 5,500 rpm.

The engine’s unforgiving force is fed to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Ultimately, this whole shebang allows the coupe to hit 60 mph (96 kph) from a dead stop in no more than 2.7 seconds. The 765LT’s speedometer will read 124 mph (200 kph) in just 7.2 seconds, making it 1.2 seconds quicker than its 720S sibling.

Furthermore, the beast is fully capable of running the quarter-mile in approximately 9.4 face-melting seconds, while the top speed reaches 205 mph (330 kph). Given its fascinating characteristics, you might be inclined to think that McLaren’s longtail fiend doesn’t exactly need any aftermarket enhancements to impress. Well, the auto specialists over at Hennessey Performance seem to disagree with that statement.

HPE1000
Photo: Hennessey Performance
The Texas-based enterprise does pride itself with “making fast cars faster since 1991,” so this sort of surreal undertakings is to be expected. We're no stranger to Hennessey’s range, having featured some of its most notable ventures over the years. We'll only remind you of the Ram TRX (a.k.a. Mammoth 1000) with 1,012 wild ponies inside its engine bay and the Venom 800, a supercharged Ford F-150 that’ll leave you speechless upon reading its power output figures.

Now, let’s see what they’ve managed to achieve on the almighty 765LT, shall we? “The new 765LT is underrated from the factory,” says John Hennessey, the company’s founder and CEO. “Upgrading the 765LT to 1,000 hp will drop the 0-60 mph time to just 2.1 seconds, which is just nuts.”

Yes, you read that correctly. The package we're looking at today (dubbed “HPE1000”) blesses the machine’s twin-turbocharged V8 behemoth with a four-digit horsepower number—1,000 feral horses, to be exact. Although there’s no word on the new torque output figure, we can probably all agree that a 0-60 mph (0-96 kph) acceleration time of 2.1 seconds is truly mind-blowing.

HPE1000
Photo: Hennessey Performance
This fascinating feat is made possible by a set of high-flow air filters and a stainless-steel downpipe developed in-house, among other upgrades. Additionally, Hennessey remapped the ECU accordingly to suit these fresh components. Besides the performance tweaks mentioned earlier, the vehicle also gained some discrete visual upgrades to let everyone know they’re not dealing with a stock 765LT.

You will find subtle HPE1000 emblems adorning the exterior, while the cabin received a selection of badges to distinguish this creature from its regular counterpart. If you happen to be the privileged owner of a 765LT and think that your ride could do with a healthy dose of extra oomph (for some odd reason), Hennessey’s package is priced at $24,950 complete with installation.

Considering that McLaren’s longtail coupe will cost you an eye-watering $358,000, HPE1000’s fee begins to sound fairly reasonable. I mean, if you can afford the original car, 25 grand for a humungous power bump shouldn’t be an issue, right?
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About the author: Silvian Secara
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A bit of an artist himself, Silvian sees two- and four-wheeled machines as a form of art, especially restomods and custom rides. Oh, and if you come across a cafe racer article on our website, it’s most likely his doing.
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