Hennessey Venom 1000TT vs C7 Z06 HPE1000

John Hennessey’s record-breaking Venom GT has been heavily featured in the headlines of the automotive presses in recent years, but the infamous Texas-based tuner made his “Venom” label one to be both feared and respected a long time ago—by tweaking a sports car more in-line with the snake motif than the Lotus Exige—the Dodge Viper.

Hennessey Viper Venom 1000TT

Hennessey Viper Venom 1000TT

More specifically, the 1st generation Dodge Viper, known as the Phase I or Phase II SR. Back in early 2000, Hennessey began offering “Venom” upgrade packages for the Viper based on incrementally increasing target horsepower levels. Phase II SR Viper RT/10s came from the factory with 415-hp, then in 1998 were upgraded to have the same 450-hp engine as the GTS, which came standard with the 450-hp engine from its first year of production, 1996.

Venom packages offered customers anything between a mild power increase to 500-hp (Venom 500) all the way up to 650-hp (Venom 650), remaining naturally-aspirated and producing their higher-than-stock power figures via porting and polishing, boring or extrude-honing. One would venture that the $37,500 Venom 650 package would have satisfied even the biggest adrenaline junkie, but John Hennessey saw fit to offer an even wilder upgrade kit, creating a 8.3-liter V10 forced-induction freak he called the Viper Venom 800TT.

Hennessey Viper Venom 1000TT

Hennessey Viper Venom 1000TT

Two T37 Garrett turbos force-fed the V10, which required only 6lbs. of boost to reach the 800-hp mark. There is a dyno video on the Hennessey Performance Engineering (HPE) website of a Hennessey Venom 1000TT on the rollers, so there was at least one example pushed to the 1-kilo horsepower mark, although its uncertain if it were a customer’s car or a test mule.

Fast forward to the current day, and HPE is still in the business of creating some of the most intimidating tuned machines in the world, this time beginning with another iconic American sports car famous for its big-block engine, the Chevrolet Corvette C7 Z06.

Corvette C7 Z06 HPE1000

Corvette C7 Z06 HPE1000

It’s telling that the base Z06 comes from the factory with 650-hp, the same figure that 15 years ago was reserved for the most heavily modified naturally-aspirated Viper Venom package, the Venom 650. But what’s even loopier is thinking about how the (Corvette C7 Z06) Hennessey HPE1000 offers the same amount of power as the Viper Venom 1000TT did back in 2001. This is exactly why John Hennessey became a household—and oftentimes controversial—figure in the sports car/exotic car tuning scene.

The HPE1000 makes 1000-hp@6,300rpm, utilizing a 2.9-liter supercharger, forged pistons and rods, a custom HPE camshaft and HPE’s own engine management system. No pricing is listed for the HPE1000 package for the C7 Z06; for comparison, the HPE1000 package for the C7 Stingray is set at $67,950. If this all sounds a little bit over top, you can rest easy knowing your Hennessey-tuned vehicle comes with a 3-year/36,000 mile warranty—not bad for a car with four-digit horsepower, and one I personally would not stand anywhere near during a dyno pull.