True meaning of Christmas delivered: Speed Matters

What better use for more than 1,000hp?

By Matt Bird / Monday, 22 December 2025 / Loading comments

We’re used to a bit of fun and games as the Christmas break approaches, a bit of messing about in cars to make the most of the festive spirit. But Hennessey, being Hennessey, takes a typically OTT approach to the holidays. Because every year it straps a Christmas tree to the roof of something ludicrously fast, then sends it down a runway to see what happens. After all, what else would you do at this time of year?

The tradition kicked off in 2017, when a Challenger Hellcat reached a tree-mendous (sorry) 174mph. Since then, the Hennessey Christmas caper cars have gotten faster and faster: only the Porsche 911 Turbo S in 2022 (175mph) failed to get past 180mph. Sometimes standard cars have featured, including a Shelby GT500 (182mph in 2020), but mostly the escapade is used to show off just how fast Hennessey modified cars are even with some Christmas cargo. Quite the advert. So a 1,000hp Jeep Trackhawk hit 181mph (imagine the fuel cost for a Christmas Cherokee at three miles a minute), an 800hp Audi RS6 added a couple more mph to that, and in 2022 a thousand-horsepower Mustang clocked 192mph.

Now, of course, 200mph with a spruce on the roof would be the ideal, and Hennessey will surely be there soon enough. For now, it must be content with 196mph, achieved in a Corvette ZR1 and with a 1.7-metre tree, complete with more than 200 lights, atop. Notably the car in question was bone stock, demonstrating just what obscene power (1,078hp) has crammed into this Corvette; certainly it would seem, from the onboard, that space at the Chase Field runway was the limiting factor here, rather than outright performance. Like so many really, really fast cars, the ZR1 seems to be accelerating faster beyond 100mph than up to it. And you can bet Hennessey will be getting to work on that twin turbo V8 come the new year…

Alex Roys, Hennessey President, said: “Hennessey’s Christmas Tree Run has evolved from a crazy little holiday stunt into one of the most fun traditions. Every year we strap a tree to something a little wilder and a little faster. It’s the kind of event that reminds you why this whole thing started… because cars should be loud, fun, and just a little bit unhinged. Running the 2026 Corvette ZR1 was a perfect finale to another amazing year for the Hennessey team.” Which sounds as good as justification gets to us. And for those feeling inspired, you'll never guess what’s made its way over from America already…