Hennessey reveals 1,204bhp 'Venom 1200' Mustang

We’ll get straight to the important stuff: this is a 1,204bhp Mustang GT500, which Hennessey calls the Venom 1200.

That means it’s 58 per cent more powerful than the GT500 on which it’s based – which works out fairly well, mathematically speaking, given that the upgrade costs about $59,000. Not that we wouldn’t baulk at paying $1,000 per percentage point increase over stock, but at least it puts a nice round figure on things.

Speaking of nice round figures, that 1,200-odd horsepower does require E85 fuel – that’s 85 per cent ethanol, 15 per cent petrol – which has an extraordinarily high octane rating and resists spontaneous detonation under the huge cylinder pressures we’re talking about here. It also has a quenching effect, which helps keep temperatures down and lessens the burden on a car’s cooling system, but we could be here all day with that sort of science. And if you’re the kind of person interested in a 1,200bhp Mustang, you’re likely interested in getting where you want to in a hurry.

To achieve 1,204bhp and 902lb ft, there’s all the parts you’d expect – larger supercharger, ECU remap and bigger injectors – as well as all the bits that ensure achieving this kind of brute force is not a one-off experience. So the supercharger belt is stronger, the tensioner is heavy-duty and the fuel rails are apparently... billet? Wait, seriously? The fuel rails are machined from a single piece of metal? OK, turns out that’s a thing. Learn something new every day.

As for dealing with that amount of power... well, there’s mention of an ‘upgraded transmission calibration’, which doesn’t sound enough like ‘we replaced everything with dwarven mithril’ for us to not be a trifle concerned for the longevity of the drivetrain. And there’s no mention of upgraded brakes, either. So, presumably, the original Brembos are up to the task. Or, much like this article [for once – ed] you’ll get straight to the important stuff... just possibly a little sooner than you may have intended.