There are very few non-hypercar models that can even hope to put up a fight against the air-piercing McLaren 720S. The latter is so aerodynamic that it simply blows past its opponents as it builds up speed.
Now, if you’ve got a 600LT and you want it to perform about as well as a 720S, one way that can be achieved is to take it to Hennessey and have it fitted with one of three performance packages – HPE700, HPE800 or the flagship HPE1000.
The 600LT in question here is wearing the HPE700 upgrade and is said to put down 658 RWHP, or “right in the neighborhood of stock McLaren 720S numbers”, according to the tuner.
On paper, the HPE700 pack takes your baby longtail to 708 HP and 635 lb-ft (861 Nm) of torque, dropping your zero to 60 mph (96 km/h) acceleration time to 2.6 seconds and your 1/4 mile time to 10.5 seconds.
A stock 720S meanwhile is said to put down 710 HP to go with 568 lb-ft (770 Nm) of torque, courtesy of its twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 engine. However, it has long been rumored that this car is actually producing more power than advertised; and when you also take into account its advanced aerodynamics, you can understand why it’s so formidable in a straight line.
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In order to see how the 720S compares to their HPE700-tuned 600LT, Hennessey raced them from a roll beginning at 45 mph (72 km/h), followed by a standstill start using launch control.
The results are quite interesting, from both perspectives. On one hand, the tuned 600LT really makes good use of its superior torque figure, whereas the 720S is definitely not afraid to fall a little bit behind and then rely on its aerodynamic properties to bring it back into contention.