Hennessey Ferrari 458 Spider Twin-Turbo is Al Fresco Estremo [w/ Videos]

on July 15, 2013 at 8:40 pm

For a company that got its start hopping up Mitsubishi 3000GTs and Dodge Stealths, Hennessey Performance Engineering has certainly done well for itself. The Texas-headquartered tuner has made a series of Jeffersons-esque moves to the automotive aftermarket’s East Side, first with the Dodge Viper, then exotics like the Nissan GT-R and Porsche 911 Turbo, and finally its own hypercar, the Hennessey Venom GT.

Now HPE is making another big move up the tuner food chain with its first twin-turbo kit for a Ferrari. The HPE700 package for the 458 Italia and 458 Spider adds substantial power to the already potent mid-mounted V8, but you wouldn’t really know it from the outside. At least, not until the driver dropped the hammer…

The changes on the outside are extremely minimal. The black-finished HRE wheels with red Prancing Horse center caps are certainly the most obvious, but there are a few others. However, they don’t really stick out; there are “Hennessey” and “Twin-Turbo” badges on the engine cover, and the exhaust behind the mesh screens above the diffuser looks a little different. But that’s pretty much the extent of it.

As for the changes under the skin, they are considerably more extensive. In addition to the twin-turbo kit, which elevates output of the 4.5L V8 to 700hp, Hennessey can also install a set of Fabspeed lightweight sport exhaust headers ($4,794) and catalytic converters ($4,194) for even more face-flattening performance and spine-tingling sound.

How much performance are we talking about? Hennessey hasn’t released any specific numbers yet, but it has released a couple videos showing the 458 Spider depicted in the photos accompanying this article blasting from 0-150 mph “the wrong way” down the Hennessey-owned dragstrip, Lonestar Motorsports Park. And oh baby, does it cover ground quickly. The Ferrari 288 GTO/F40-reminiscent soundtrack and power retractable hardtop are just nice bonuses.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkxlB9ttw-c[/youtube] [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADVyAyz31QA[/youtube]