Check out this 1000 bhp Venom GT supercar that Hennessey just launched. No more silhouetted pictures.

The car’s basically a Lotus Elise that’s been hulked up. First, the Elise’s subframe’s modified to accommodate the Corvette LS9 V8 with a six-speed manual gearbox.

Even with all this power, the car will be offered with three different tuning levels. The base model gets 725 bhp and 741 lb-ft of torque. The mid-range gets a twin-turbocharged version that dishes out 1000 bhp and 900 lb-ft of torque.

The range-topper is absolutely mad with an engine tuned to dish out 1200 bhp and 1100 lb-ft of torque. The engine’s mated to a six-speed Ricardo gearbox.

All variants sprint to 60 mph from standstill in under three seconds.

If you think the horsepower wars are over, then why the heck is Hennessey still trying to prove that they can pump a barrel of steroids into cars.

This, my friends, is a Lotus Elise. With 1000 bhp. And can go 262 mph. Hennessey calls it the Venom GT.

Set to come out by the month’s end, the Venom GT is based on the wee Lotus Elise. However, it’s basically re-engineering the nimble little wasp with a new subframe in order to accommodate the huge LS9 V8 and the six-speed gearbox.

The LS9 from the Corvette’s been twin-turbocharged to get 1000 bhp and 950 lb-ft of max torque. That, combined with the lightweight 2,400 lb car gives it the sprint time of 0 to 60 mph in just 2.2 seconds. 0-200 mph comes in just 14.5 seconds – that’s how much many family saloons take to creep up to 60 mph!

The car’s also fitted with 15-inch carbon rotors with six-piston calipers up front and 14-inch carbon rotors with four-piston calipers at the back to help the car stop.

This is just plain wicked.

Hennessey is also offering HPEs with higher number designations. And yes, higher numbers correspond to the added power. And it’s not simply just 650 hp. Try 655 hp with a max torque of 642 lb-ft. Not content with just 655 hp? Try this one on for size – the HPE700 with 705 hp and a max torque of 717 lb-ft. This car uses the LS9 supercharged V8 that you can also find in the Corvette ZR1.

If you’ve gone mad and would still want a Camaro that can shame all the other supercars, try Hennessey’s offerings of twin-turbo packages that can up the ante all the way up to 850 hp and a 1,000 hp.

We’d like more information on what’s done on the other parts of the car though. That much power would need to be paired to some high-performance powertrain components, sport brakes, and suspensions. Not too fond of cars that only do their best business in straight lines.

But what the heck, the Camaro’s American muscle anyway.

Source: Hennessey

Hennessey has been making monsters out of beasts and now, they’re gunning for the title of fastest production car with the Venom GT. The car’s development was first announced back in 2007. Now, Hennessey is saying that they’d be showcasing the car in next year’s Geneva Motor Show.

The Venom packs a V8 that will be dishing out a menacing 1,200 horsepower that would propel the car from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.4 seconds. The top speed – 272 mph – enough to mess with your innards if you’re inside the car.

The car will feature a mid-engine layout and power will be delivered to the rear wheels. A rear wing and a low profile will help keep the car planted to the ground that those speeds.

These figures do make the Veyron look slow. But if Hennessey succeeds in this attempt, and they most likely will, we just think that it’s a bit late of an effort. There seems to be no real room for such a car in today’s ecomentalist world.

So they took the ZR1 and gave it a Hennessey Z700 treatment which boosts the power all the way up to 705 hp. The package includes an upgraded supercharger, new exhaust and air induction systems. The package also includes carbon fiber wheels with sport tires, a front spliter and rear spoiler for added downforce.

All of this contributes to stunning straight line speeds. 0 to 60 mph is accomplish in a hypercar-esque 2.9 seconds. HPE said that they will be testing the Z700-equipped ZR1 in late 2009 to see how it slugs it out with the speedy lap time of the regular ZR1.

Power freaks can also avail of more powerful package in the Z750 (750 hp) and the Z1000 package that would allow the ZR1 to have a Veyron-esque 1000 horses.