Hennessey To Tune Nissan GTR, Lexus IS-F
I've always greatly admired Hennessey. Any tuner that even thinks about boring-out a 500hp Dodge Viper mill to 9.5 liters gets my respect. And one that straps a brace of turbos on the result– boosting horsepower from a "mere" 800 to a Veyron-beating 1200–gets what Sajeev insists on calling mad props. According to Motor Authority, the Texas-based tuner is now turning its tuning talents towards Japanese metal. Specifically, the two hottest cars to come from the Land of the Rising Sun: the Lexus IS-F and Nissan's world-beating GT-R. While I have a slightly different opinion of the IS-F than Mr. McCombs (I friggin' love it), I think we can both agree that the last thing the lunatic Lexus needs is more power. So naturally Hennessey is going to bolt on a supercharger and fit the beast with headers, exhaust and a new intake. No word on the power, but you can bet it will be, "adequate." And by adequate I mean seven kinds of bonkers. Look for it later this year. As for Godzilla, it won't show up until 2009. I'm thinking the sky [line] will be the limit. Either that, or there won't be any limit whatsoever. The No Limits GT-R. Sign me up.
Cleanup driver for Team Black Metal V8olvo.
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Pretty much has already been stated, but the RS4 engine is different than the Viper's. The 4.2L does push 420HP but its redline is 8250, much higher than 6250 rpm on the 8.4L. The Viper has smoother power delivery and much more available torque at any rpm. The Audi manages 317 ft-lb of torque compared to 560 ft-lb on the Viper. Once again, peak HP/L isn't the benchmark of engine design and the 8.4L is far from pathetic.
JL: admiration isn't the right word for his business practices when he's fighting a cash flow problem. Hennescrewed pictures on the internet, anyone? Katie: don't be that person who judges sports cars by hp/liter. Its about area under the (power) curve. We've wasted too much bandwidth on this topic.
What about power-to-weight ratio? Isn't that of some import too?
Oh yes! Power-to-weight is of great importance, unless you live in an area where 100+mph driving is commonplace. HP/liter is best reserved to compact hatchbacks normally found in Europe. Its almost meaningless in the world of sports cars.