There used to be a time when 1,000bhp was seen as a really big number. No, wait, that came out wrong… 1,000bhp is a big number, a really massively big one. But it wasn’t all that long ago that it was the sole preserve of top-fuel dragsters; the idea of deploying that many horses on the road was total pie-in-the-sky.
But the goalposts have shifted a long way in recent years, with numerous hypercar manufacturers touting four-figure outputs. Naturally the aftermarket is all over this, as there’s nothing more fun than schooling a multi-million-dollar bauble with a tuned-up road car, and the American muscle car fraternity in particular has become a little obsessed with the idea. Look at the Dodge Charger here – it has 1,500bhp. That’s quite a lot, isn’t it?
Amusingly, this is also a police car. Well, sort of… the base for the project was a police-spec Charger Pursuit vehicle, although Speedkore Performance has changed a few bits and bobs. The stock 365bhp 5.7-litre V8 has been thrown away and replaced with the mental 828bhp 6.2-litre V8 from the Demon range. Then they unbolted the supercharger and replaced it with a pair of billet Precision turbos, which necessitated a custom plenum and triple-pump fuel system with 1,700cc injectors. It’s got Mickey Thompson semi-slicks and screamer pipes poking through the front bumper, and the performance is bonkers. With 1,500bhp at the crank (about 1,300bhp at the wheels), Speedkore decided to convert it to all-wheel-drive. But of course.
Naturally high-octane cops need bad guys to chase, and that’s where the Fathouse Performance Shelby GT350 1000R comes in. What these nutters have done is to take the already ballistic GT350 Mustang and strap on a pair of Xona Rotor turbos, mounted nice and low down under the car (so you have to keep clear of cats-eyes), boosting the 5.2-litre V8 to a meaty 950bhp at the wheels. So it’ll do 0-62mph in 2.5-seconds and run a quarter-mile quicker than a Bugatti Veyron.
But we know what you’re thinking – the 1,300whp cops will easily catch the 950whp robbers, right? Ah, don’t worry, Fathouse has thought of that. So as well as the 1000R conversion, the company also offers 1200R and 1400R packages. You can guess what those numbers mean. This really is a bizarre time to be alive.
Words Dan Bevis
