Hennessey taking Whipple's credit? HPE700 'Hennessey supercharged' 2015 Mustang GT goes 195 miles per hour

[Sticky]

195 miles per hour in a Mustang GT certainly is impressive although the GT500 does over 200 stock so it is not like this is a figure a Mustang has never seen before even from the factory. Regardless, Hennessey put out a press release on 'his achievement' with the GT500.

The issue we have is that the press release gives all the credit to Henessey and none to Whipple. Read this, "I'm very happy with this first test of our specially tuned Ford Mustang GT. The aerodynamic stability of the stock bodied car gave it a balanced and predictable feel at speed. We are also very happy to have the ability to demonstrate the daily driveability of our HPE700 along with the durability. Our supercharged 5.0 V8 ran flawlessly at high rpm and high speeds."

It is surprising he did not take credit for the Ford engineers' work on the Mustang aerodynamics in addition to the credit he took for the supercharger system. Yes, Hennessey 'engineers' installed it but it's nothing more than a 2.9 liter Whipple system.

Omitting the Whipple name specifically (for the second time) certainly appears like Hennessey is trying to imply the supercharger system is their own design. Isn't that just a tad bit misleading?

2015 HPE700 Supercharged Mustang Rockets to 195.2 mph

John Hennessey takes his personal Mustang GT on a Texas road trip

Uvalde, Texas-Everything is bigger in Texas, especially when it comes to automotive performance. Texas also lays claim to the highest posted speed limit in America at 85 mph. Enter the team from Hennessey Performance Engineering (HPE) who are located just west of Houston. John Hennessey and his merry band of performance car builders like to go fast, so much so that they have their own ¼ mile dragstrip next to their workshop.

Recently, the Hennessey team wanted to test their 717 horsepower HPE700 Supercharged Mustang development car (John's personal car and occasional daily driver) beyond the 130+ mph speeds that they have seen on the dragstrip. "Thankfully, we had recently received an invitation from the guys at the Continental Tires proving grounds in Uvalde to come over and do some testing on their 8.0 mile high speed oval", said Hennessey. "So we rounded up a team of our technicians and engineers and made a quick road trip to Uvalde to see how our HPE700 would perform at higher speeds".

John and his son, JP, drove the HPE700 Mustang from the company's Sealy headquarters to Uvalde – a distance of 240 miles. After spending the night, the team arrived at the proving grounds early the next morning. After waiting for several hours for the morning dew to burn off the track, the team prepped the car to go out and take a few laps around the large oval. "It's almost like a big circle with two short 1.1 mile long straightaways", said John.

After completing a warm up lap Hennessey decided to open up the HPE700's supercharged 5.0L Coyote V8 engine and see how the car felt at higher speeds. "Cruising through the final turn I was trying to maintain 120-130 mph while building some speed as I neared the straight", said Hennessey. When I hit the straight, I wanted to be around 140 mph and then let all of the Mustang's horsepower run wide open. The car pulled very strong and just kept pulling. I hit a pretty nasty bump around 170 mph and kept my foot on the gas. Then I hit the rev limiter at just over 195 mph according to the Racelogic VBox display".

After returning to the pits, Racelogic engineer, Joe Lachovsky was able to confirm that the 2015 HPE700 Supercharged Mustang had recorded a top speed of 195.2 mph as validated by the VBox 3i GPS-based data logging system.

"I'm very happy with this first test of our specially tuned Ford Mustang GT", said Hennessey. The aerodynamic stability of the stock bodied car gave it a balanced and predictable feel at speed. We are also very happy to have the ability to demonstrate the daily driveability of our HPE700 along with the durability. Our supercharged 5.0 V8 ran flawlessly at high rpm and high speeds while oil temps were never an issue, thanks to our Pennzoil PurePlus synthetic. We drove it to Continental, ran 195+ mph and drove it home – a round trip distance of over 500 miles".

2015 HPE700 Supercharged Mustang GT as Tested Specifications

Base Vehicle:
2015 Ford Mustang GT, 6-speed manual transmission with optional Track Pack

Power
• 717 bhp @ 7,000 rpm
• 632 lb-ft torque @ 4,400 rpm

Performance
• 0-60 mph: 3.6 sec.
• ¼ mile: 11.2 @ 131 mph
• Top Speed: 195.2 mph (with optional 3.15 rear axle ratio)

HPE700 Supercharged 5.0L V8 Engine Upgrade
• 2.9 Liter Supercharger System
• Upgraded Fuel Injectors
• All Necessary Gaskets & Fluids
• Professional Installation
• HPE Engine Management Calibration
• Dyno Tuning & Road Testing
• Hennessey Exterior Badging
• HPE700 Exterior Badging
• Supercharged Exterior Badging
• Hennessey Premium Floormats
• Hennessey Embroidered Headrests
• Serial-Numbered Dash & Engine Plaques
• 3 Year / 36,000 Mile Limited Warranty

Optional Upgrades
• Lowed suspension
• 3.15 rear axle ratio

Total price as tested
$65,874

[benzy89]

Tried to option up a Ford GT on the Ford website (GT Premium Fastback, GT Performance Package, Recaro Leather Seats, etc.) and I got it up to $43k.... So if the Hennessey package goes to $65k, they're easily adding an extra $20k.

....For a Whipple SC that could be bought for ~$7k, so after adding injectors & a clutch (if necessary) you're probably ~$10k.

#ConArtist

[crazylegs]

But remember! You do get floor mats, head rest, and badges

[Sticky]

But remember! You do get floor mats, head rest, and badges

So those basically add a few more MPH.

[onisyndicate]

My Type R emblem add 50 horsepower. So my hennessey floor mats add 150 horsepower because 'merican v8!

[Sticky]

The Texas flag out the car is just funny to me. Anyone else feel like they are trying too hard?

[mpowerct]

Unreal.... Rebadged engineering like his fast LOTUS. I was just reading about his scams from way back...Lol

[FLYING X5]

Even in the Dodge world, he has a bad rep... Can't do right in any brand, hennessey alienates himself from every group, no matter what he/they produce.

[Sticky]

Hence the propaganda videos...

[ND75R]

If I was Whipple I would be pretty pissed off right about now. I'm sure they've struck a deal with this prick though because he only recently started using their superchargers on "his" "builds".

[Sticky]

If I was Whipple I would be pretty pissed off right about now. I'm sure they've struck a deal with this prick though because he only recently started using their superchargers on "his" "builds".

I doubt they care. They sell him plenty of SC's and just smile and make money. He just looks like a douche to people who understand what is going on.

[ND75R]

I doubt they care. They sell him plenty of SC's and just smile and make money. He just looks like a douche to people who understand what is going on.

True, I can't be the only one who is unsettled by his "Velociraptor" being on Top Gear in the new episode. I hate this cock getting publicity.

[Sticky]

True, I can't be the only one who is unsettled by his "Velociraptor" being on Top Gear in the new episode. I hate this cock getting publicity.

Somehow for some reason he has always managed to get publicity.

Whatever, if it's only us pointing out the BS so be it.