Hennessey McLaren 12C HPE700
Texan tuners follow up twin-turbo Ferrari 458 conversion with comparable upgrade for McLaren 12C
Now, if you're on the McLaren side of the argument and feeling a little left out fear not; Hennessey is fuelling the arms race with the announcement of a similar package for the 12C. Like the 458, it's badged the HPE700 and builds on McLaren's existing twin-turbo 3.8-litre V8 by boosting power to 704hp and 538lb ft from the standard 625hp and 443lb ft. Which is an interesting comparison with the 737hp and 531lb ft the related P1 motor delivers, albeit before the additional 179hp and 192lb ft of the electric motors is factored in.
Thing is, does this give you P1 pace for $19,000, rather than the $1,150,000 McLaren is asking for the hybrid hypercar? And, more importantly perhaps, does it mean you can out-drag your mate who's just added Hennessey's HPE700 turbo package to his 458?
Hennessey claims a 2.8-second 0-60 time, matching that recorded for its turbocharged 458 and the quarter-mile times are barely two-tenths apart (10.3 for the McLaren) with terminal speeds matching at 137mph. So they're still evenly matched, just a little further down the road than the stock versions. By Hennessey's own VBOX acceleration tests the uprated car is a second faster 60-130mph at 7.15 seconds than stock and "flat out, scalding fast" according to Hennessey's communications manager Doug Kott.
The extra performance hasn't come easily though, the full story available to read on Hennessey's website but necessitating a water/methanol injection system to cool the charge air at high boost pressures to reduce the risk of detonation. This is managed by a piggybacked ECU upgrade, new air filters, a new exhaust system and modifications to the heat exchanger cooling systems.
And beyond surprisingly tasteful badging that's it...
Something’s niggling me that McLaren are a company that would know how to get the most out of their products before over stressing them and setting up the handling to be suite the performance.
Brits make a perfectly engineered car then the yanks chuck some bigger turbos on it and some extra kit to try and prevent their mod from destroying it…
Something’s niggling me that McLaren are a company that would know how to get the most out of their products before over stressing them and setting up the handling to be suite the performance.
Brits make a perfectly engineered car then the yanks chuck some bigger turbos on it and some extra kit to try and prevent their mod from destroying it…
It has 625bhp because that delivers the performance McLaren WANT to give the car. This is the same when remapping a car; some people question the point of remapping because they can't understand why the manufacturer didn't give it that power/torque to start with. Well this is the same reason, it's just the manufacturer positioning the car to sit with competitors or the other cars in their ranges. For example BMW had the 318 and 320 with the same engine, except for a different map (maybe other parts too, but it was very similar).
In addition these modifications cost $19,000, and if McLaren added $19,000 to the base price of the 12C from the factory they may well price themselves outside what their customers are willing to pay. $19000 for 75bhp is a lot of money.
Something’s niggling me that McLaren are a company that would know how to get the most out of their products before over stressing them and setting up the handling to be suite the performance.
Brits make a perfectly engineered car then the yanks chuck some bigger turbos on it and some extra kit to try and prevent their mod from destroying it…
It has 625bhp because that delivers the performance McLaren WANT to give the car. This is the same when remapping a car; some people question the point of remapping because they can't understand why the manufacturer didn't give it that power/torque to start with. Well this is the same reason, it's just the manufacturer positioning the car to sit with competitors or the other cars in their ranges. For example BMW had the 318 and 320 with the same engine, except for a different map.
In addition these modifications cost $19,000, and if McLaren added $19,000 to the base price of the 12C from the factory they may well price themselves outside what their customers are willing to pay. $19000 for 75bhp is a lot of money.
I’d suspect that most supercar tolerances are less however as their manufactures usually look to get the optimum power performance from their engines. I take you point that the 12C engine can/does deliver more, that’s for sure but I think I’d rather wait for McLaren to issue a performance upgrade package than opt for a Bast dised yank upgrade.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff