WATCH: Hennessey Venom 1200 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Fails To Hit 1,204 HP Claimed Figure During Dyno Run

Nov. 11, 2022 3:30 PM ET by Gerhard Horn Tuning / 5 Comments

The car only produced 1,000 horses. That's still plenty, but we'd prefer more.

Hennessey set out to prove the claimed power figures for the recently-unveiled Venom 1200, and it didn't go exactly as planned. As the tuner's chosen name for the car suggests, it should produce 1,200 horsepower. Or rather 1,204 hp and 902 lb-ft, to be precise.

During the dyno run, the car posted maximum figures of 1,000.28 horses and 715 lb-ft of torque. The full power was delivered at 7,820 rpm, while peak torque arrived at 6,320 rpm.

Kudos to Hennessey for posting the video, even though the Venom 1200 failed to hit the target. If you're not in the mood to do the math, the famous American tuner missed its claimed figures by 204 hp and 187 lb-ft. Basically, Hennessey missed its target by a whole Honda Civic Si.

The Venom 1200 is based on the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, claimed to produce 760 horsepower and 625 lb-ft. The Dynojet chassis dyno also had historical data for the standard car, and it produced 655 hp and 549 lb-ft of torque. That's also way down on the claimed figures.

Many of you will know there's a huge difference between crank horsepower (CHP) and wheel horsepower (WHP). When manufacturers launch a new vehicle, they tend to use CHP because it will always be more impressive. But CHP is as meaningless as a 0-60 mph time.

As we've said several times before, these figures are only crucial because humans like to quantify things using numbers, and CHP and 0-60 mph times are easy to remember and use as ammo in a car debate.

Wheel horsepower is the power the car puts down through the wheels once all the drivetrain components are connected, which causes what is known as drivetrain loss, and the average, depending on who you ask, is between 10% to 15%.

This is not the first time Hennessey has played itself. The VelociRaptor Package for the Bronco claims a power output of 500 hp and 550 lb-ft, but when it was placed on a dyno, it only produced 323 hp and 384 lb-ft. That's a 35% dip over claimed and a reason for concern.

The Venom 1200 losses - if it makes its expected figures at the crank - are 17% for horsepower and 20% in torque. Not that bad, and besides, 1,000 horses are still plenty. We also can't help but be impressed with how progressively the power climbs to 7,820 rpm and the flat torque curve that starts at roughly 4,000 rpm and only starts tapering off at just shy of 8,000 rpm. Sure, it doesn't quite make the power claimed, but using what it does have on tap will be highly rewarding.

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Gerhard Horn

News & Features Editor

Contact Gerhard @GrootScreenGerhard

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