So you think your half-million dollar supercar in all of its Le Mans magic can best a two-ton soccer mom machine? Sure we’ll take that bet.
This is the sort of wager that world-renowned extreme speed shop, Hennessey Performance, decided to take this month just for “shifts and giggles,” with copious sums of bragging rights and a badass video to prove it all happened to be the prize. Hell, when you have as much time, money, know-how, and enthusiasm as this all-American powerhouse, who’s going to stop you?
Sporting 647 horsepower in stock trim, and tipping the scales at 3,381 pounds, the 2018 Ford GT is a virtually unobtainable supercar entity, even for many of those with the means to procure one. But despite all of its tricky EcoBoost engineering and low-slung aerodynamics, it is far from being a drag car, favoring high-speed cornering and head-turning at auto shows to thrashing down the local drag strip on a Saturday night. Still, the GT does have a readily available zero-to-60 time of just 3 seconds, and with 1/4 mile pulls hovering in the upper 10’s, it’s no slouch in a straight line.
On the other side of the line sits Hennessey’s creation: A Jeep Trackhawk that has been outfitted with the brand’s latest range of upgrades for the already insane FCA SUV. Averaging around 1,012 brake horsepower up top, with 969 pound-feet of torque on tap down the bottom, the brand’s Jeep Trackhawk HPE1000 package is about as straightforward as it gets regarding bolt-on upgrades. Key components the monster in the video is sporting include A 4.5L supercharger system running 14 psi of boost, a high-flow supercharger bypass valve, larger fuel injectors, a high-flow fuel pump, Hennessey’s very own engine management setup and chassis dyno calibration, as well as a high-flow air induction system.
Upon launch note how the Trackhawk maintains a higher speed all the way up until the Ford GT reaches 4th gear and ticks past at 107 mph. However, this minor win is short-lived, as the Jeep quickly matches the supercar’s speed with equal amounts of forwarding thrust almost instantaneously.
The final result? Hennessey’s 1000HPE Trackhawk leads the Ford supercar down the entire strip before hitting the finish line at 132 mph. Meanwhile, the stock Ford GT tops-out at 134 mph, but loses the race by a healthy margin. Perhaps the lesson here is that even on something as heavy as a rampaging rhino, there still isn’t a replacement for displacement, especially when the proper supercharger bolt-ons are attached and are then fine-tuned to a screaming crescendo.