Already bored with the new crap of pony cars; need more muscle than a Mustang GT, Challenger RT, just not fast enough or as Bumble Bee's buzz already wearing off. Well, we have the solution. If you like Mustangs, then praise to lord and Carroll Shelby for the supercharge Shelby GT500. Challenger faithful? Embrace the 6.1 liter Hemi powered bad-ass from Dodge's famous SRT group.
As for Camaro fans, well, right now, Chevys only V8 Camaro is the SS, which leaves you high and dry against the Shelby and SRT, unless you turn to the high performance experts at Hennessey Performance Engineering.
Hennessey's Camaro HPE550 is a factory fresh SS armed with a roots type supercharger and upgrades including a colder in-take, high-flow fuel injectors, custom ECU tuning and a stainless steel exhaust. What's it all good for? Well, Hennessey claims 550 hp, just like the name says.
We took the HPE550 to K&N Air Filters headquarters for a Dyno session. There we found that it makes about 520 hp at the rear wheels, which translates to 615 hp at the crankshaft. How does this back up against a GT500 and Challenger SRT8, we took all three to the test drive to find out.
First up the skidpad. All of these muscle cars have upgraded suspension wheels and tires over their entry level counterparts, which means they can carry more speed and grip in cornering situations. Despite nose-heavy weight distribution, the GT500 out grips the other two off the skidpad, registered at 0.96 g. Coming at a second place is the HPE550 achieving 0.90 g and finally, the SRT8 recording 0.87g of skidpad.
The Shelby proved to be better balanced. On our Figure-8 it records a 25.1second run at 0.81 g. The HPE550 finishes behind the GT500 once again recording a time of 25.6 seconds at 0.75 g. Taking a distant third is the porky SRT8, which finishes Figure-8 course in 26.4 seconds at 0.69g.
Wide sticky tires, help the HPE550 just beat the GT500 and SRT8 in our braking test. From 60mph the HPE550 needs only 110 feet. GT500 comes in close second; braking from 60mph in 130 feet. Right behind the Mustang is the SRT8, which comes to a complete stop in just 117 feet.
Now for what you have been waiting for. Even with a 6.1 liter Hemi V8, the SRT8 makes the least power and torque, which is, 425 hp, 420 lb-ft of torque. It's also the heaviest muscle car here. So, it's no surprise that it's the slowest down the direction with a 0-60 time of 4.7 seconds and a 1/4 mile of 13.3 seconds at 107 mph.
To make the GT500, Shelby replaces the Mustang GT's 325 hp, 4.6 liter V8 with a supercharge 5.4 liter V8 making 540hp and 510 lb-ft of torque. All that muscle is good for 0-60 time of 4.1 sconds and a rundown the direction in 12.4 seconds at 116 mph. Sounds good, but how does that stack up against the Hennessey.
At 615 hp and an incredible 593 lb-ft of torque, and this is Camaro, it's significantly more powerful than both the SRT8 and GT500. Just listen to that exhaust note and check out the drama free launch. 60 mph comes in just 3.7 seconds, the quarter mile 11.9 seconds at 121.6 mph. Incredible? You bet. And there is more news, this HPE550 is essentially Hennessey's attempt to create the Camaro Z28 variant that Shelby put on hold in the spring of 2009.
But we've just got word that the Z28 program is back on, which means soon high powered muscle cars Ford, Dodge and Chevy would be roaming the streets along side tuners like Hennessey.
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