New car news

09 January 2009 - 10:00

Behold, the Vettaro!

What happens when a Chevy Camaro and a Corvette ZR1 get blind drunk, turn down the lights, crank up the Motown and do something that makes them feel a bit awkward around each other the next day?

The HPE700, that’s what. American tuner Hennessey Performance has taken the 2010 Camaro SS and stuffed it full of the lovely ‘LS9’ V8 straight out of the Corvette ZR1. Oh, and added a few more kilowatts for good measure.

So you’re looking at a muscle car armed with a 559kW supercharged V8. That’s a lot.

There’s no firm word on performance figures yet, but assuming that the HPE700 can get its power down on the road – and that’s a big assumption – it should be capable of hitting 100km/h in not-very-much over three seconds.

The HPE700 also gets the 15-inch carbon ceramic brakes from the ZR1, as well as that kitschy love-it-or-hate-it see-through bonnet bulge. There’s a whole load of aero-trickery too, plus uprated suspension and big sticky tyres.

If you decide to splash out on your very own HPE700, Hennessey will generously treat you to a track day to teach you how to control your rear-drive beast. We’d imagine the first lesson goes something like ‘hold on and pray, boy’…