Hennessey Performance boosts McLaren MP4-12C

Hennessey Performance Engineering has a new power package for the McLaren MP4-12C. For $19,500 (plus the base price of the car, obviously) it pushes output to 704 hp and 538 lb-ft of torque. That's an increase of 88 hp and 96 lb-ft.

HPE must have liked what it did in Europe with the Ferrari 458 Italia and decided to stay there for a while, this time turning its attention to England.

“The Hennessey McLaren HPE700 broadens our reach in performance tuning to European supercars. Both midrange power and torque are bumped, but the real hair-on-fire ride begins from 4,000 rpm to the 8,500-rpm redline,” says John Hennessey, president of Hennessey Performance.

The 0-60-mph sprint time in the MP4 drops to a wicked 2.8 seconds while the quarter mile blows by in just 10.3 seconds at 137 mph. According to Hennessey, the power boost comes from an ECU software upgrade that increases boost from 21 psi to 23 psi. Charge cooling is enhanced with HPE's heat exchanger, which decreases air temperature as boost levels rise.

The HPE upgrade also comes with an angrier-sounding stainless-steel exhaust setup, according to Hennessey, as well as high-flow air filters and aluminum Hennessey numbered plaques. Each car is backed by the company's one-year, 12,000-mile limited warranty.

For more info and to order, go to hennesseyperformance.com.

By Jake Lingeman