Of course, everyone wanted to see a massive face-off between the mighty 702-hp Ram 1500 TRX and the new edgy kid on the EV block, the Tesla Cybertruck, but we're still determining if this will turn out controversial.
Before Ford updated the 2024 F-150 Raptor R and (finally) gave its supercharged V8 some 720 ponies, the world's mightiest ICE-powered full-size light-duty pickup truck was the 702-horsepower, 6.2-liter supercharged V8-equipped Ram 1500 TRX. This model is going away and will enjoy a well-earned retirement space in the pantheon of high-powered vehicles after the 2024 model year, so let's enjoy it while it lasts.
Nowadays, there are many spotlights on the 2024 Tesla Cybertruck, the edgy spaceship-like stainless steel pickup truck that was promised by Elon Musk so many years ago and finally started to deliver at the end of last year. People might remember the launch festivities also included a quick dragstrip race featuring a Porsche 911 and a Tesla Cybertruck towing another 911 on a trailer. Of course, the results favored the Cyberbeast and were widely contested.
Well, I will be frank – I think these results will suffer the same fate. But here it goes. So, after recently announcing that the company is still chasing that elusive world's fastest car top speed record with the Venom F5, Hennessey went back to the Pennzoil Proving Ground with something 'less' powerful – though just as bonkers. More precisely, they brought out to play a Ram 1500 TRX morphed into their high-performance Mammoth 1000 build.
Which, as the name says, includes a high-flow 2.65L supercharger, fuel injectors, and high-flow induction system alongside performance-boosting calibration to make it a 1,012 hp and 969 lb-ft of torque monster pickup truck. Naturally, this setup should give the Tesla Cybertruck a good run for its money in a soon-to-be-classic ICE versus EV showdown. There were three races from a dig at the company's quarter-mile track, and all of them were cleanly won by the Mammoth 1000.
However, there were a few caveats – maybe one too many not to put big question marks on top of this encounter. First and foremost, the Tesla Cybertruck isn't the 845-hp flagship Cyberbeast version but the Foundation Series Cybertruck AWD, which has a lower price and 'just' 600 electric ponies to play with. Secondly, obviously, this isn't a 702-hp TRX but an even higher-performance build with more than 1,000 horsepower on tap.
Thirdly, since Hennessey doesn't use its quarter-mile dragstrip as they are supposed to, and there are no times at the end of the race, there is no way of knowing if the Tesla was pedal to the metal the whole time. However, once they open the door to Cybertruck versus TRX encounters, they are bound to happen again – and hopefully, they'll also get a visit from the 720-hp 2024 Raptor R soon enough.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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