Max Motors » SRT10

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Some people’s livelihoods require them to drive big pickups. As enthusiasts, however, we’ve always been mystified by those drivers who choose a truck. It’s also a disturbing fact that despite lackluster performance, many of these trucks are piloted by hot dogs who think they’re driving sports cars but are in fact weaving in and out of traffic in bone-stock Ford F-150s and Chevy Silverados.

Oh, there have been a few low-volume trucks that perform reasonably well, but currently, neither Ford nor GM comes close to matching Dodge’s pair of blazing pickups—regular and Quad Cab versions of the Viper-powered Ram SRT10. We’d have trouble justifying the stratospheric $50,000 stickers on these beasts, but we know there are at least 4500 people happy with the sheer outrageousness of a 500-hp pickup.

But for the truly lunatic truck lover who can’t come to terms with the fact that his or her 5000-plus-pound pickup isn’t able to outrun Corvettes and Porsche 911s, John Hennessey has a solution. The president of Hennessey Performance Engineering, whose horsepower-crazed cars have graced our pages for years, recently brought his latest toy—an 800-hp version of the Ram SRT10 Quad Cab—to Hogback Road.

Shortly after the SRT version of the Ram went on sale, Hennessey got phone calls from owners familiar with his Viper transformations who wondered what he had available for the truck. The company now sells many upgrades for both regular and Quad Cab models, many originating from the Viper catalog.

The truck shown here has Hennessey’s $39,500 Venom 800 Twin Turbo package, very similar to the setup in the Viper that won our November 2004 Supercar Challenge, although this one retains stock internals and 8.3-liter displacement. The goodies include twin Garrett ball-bearing turbos that force 10.0 psi into the V-10 while a front-mounted air-to-air intercooler chills the pressurized air. Hennessey also added a $950 GReddy PRofec B-spec II boost controller to run the twin TiAL waste gates that bleed off excess pressure. The fuel pump, the lines, and the injectors were all super-sized but work with the factory engine-management system to keep up with the extra gasoline requirements to produce the claimed 800 horsepower and 850 pound-feet of torque. That’s a stunning 300 more horses and 325 more pound-feet than the factory version.

After we heard those numbers, we weren’t surprised that the standard four-speed automatic, the only transmission in the Quad Cab, had to be upgraded. Hennessey adds a $1750 torque converter that resists a big meltdown. And the transmission gets a $5950 tear-down, after which it sports a significantly beefed-up billet input shaft and clutch packs that can hold onto gears long after the turbos spool up. Skeptics, rest assured. Hennessey backs up the $48,150 powertrain creation with a two-year/24,000-mile warranty.

Rounding out our test truck’s upgrades were a $1950 lowering job (two inches in front and four inches in the back), a $195 trailer-hitch plug, and $4950 for a set of 0.5-inch-wider 10.5-by-22-inch Hennessey wheels that each weigh two pounds less than stock. All of this brought the cost of the “ultimate pickup” to $106,855, a heart-stopping increase over the $51,610 starting price.

This silver six-figure pickup looks similar to the stock version. The tasteful black badges are really the only clue to what lies within. Hennessey’s truck thankfully starts and idles normally and is even quite drivable as long as inputs to the throttle remain light-footed. Once up to cruising speed, we noticed a whoosh-whoosh alternating from side to side as pressurized air is short-circuited to the atmosphere from the intake passage.

The burly four-speed shifts abruptly and sometimes harshly, but so does the stock unit in the SRT10 Quad Cab. A brief drive revealed that the lowered suspension degrades the truck’s already stiff ride, and it doesn’t improve skidpad grip—we measured 0.82 g versus 0.83 in the stocker.

Kids, we’re here to tell you that launching an 800-hp truck is difficult. A burnout doesn’t describe what happened at the track when we stomped on the gas pedal. After the huge white cloud of tire smoke obscured John Hennessey—as well as the rest of the track—from our view, we figured the tires were amply warmed up. Hennessey’s recap: “Spank the loud pedal on this beast, and you will want to yell out, ‘Yeeeee-HAWWWW,’ even if you’re not from Texas.” We agree.

After a few tries, we found the sweet spot and recorded a 4.4-second 0-to-60-mph blast and a 12.4-second quarter-mile at 118 mph. That quarter-mile time makes the Venom Ram 1.8 seconds quicker than the non-turbo version. That bests the quarter-mile times of the latest Corvette and 911 and ties the test average in our “Lords of Envy” sub-200K supercar comparison in August, which included a Lamborghini Gallardo, a Ferrari F430, and a Ford GT.

At higher speeds, the shock value of the truck’s numbers increase. For example, Hennessey’s Ram accelerates from 0 to 120 mph in 13.1 seconds, or less than half the time it takes the stock version. And this truck is just 0.2 second slower to 150 mph than a ragtop Viper. Wow.

Vehicle type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 6-passenger, 4-door truck
Price as tested: $106,855 (base price*: $106,660)
Engine type: twin-turbocharged and intercooled pushrod 20-valve V-10, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 506 cu in, 8285cc
Power (mfr’s claim): 800 bhp @ 5000 rpm
Torque (mfr’s claim): 850 lb-ft @ 3800 rpm
Transmission: 4-speed automatic
Wheelbase: 140.5 in
Length/width/height: 227.7/79.9/72.7 in
Curb weight: 5507 lb
Zero to 60 mph: 4.4 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 9.1 sec
Zero to 150 mph: 22.6 sec
Street start, 5-60 mph: 4.7 sec
Standing 1/4-mile: 12.4 sec @ 118 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 189 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.82 g
C/D-observed fuel economy: 6 mpg
*Base price includes all performance-enhancing options.