WATCH: Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing With 1,000-HP Upgrade By Hennessey Is A Monster

Oct. 08, 2023 8:11 AM ET byCesar Miguel Video /3 Comments

In a drag race against a stock model, the Hennessey H1000 shows what it can do.

American car tuning company Hennessey has shown how aCadillac CT5-V Blackwingequipped with its H1000 kit compares against a bone-stock unit. They did this via quarter-mile drag runs performed with rolling starts.

Predictably enough, the race went in favor of theCT5-V Blackwing H1000. This kit, after all, adds a larger supercharger to the Caddy sedan's 6.2-liter LT4 V8.

The stock V8 mill makes 668 horsepower and 659 lb-feet of torque, but Hennessey's H1000 upgrade jacks that to 1,000 hp and 966 lb-ft of torque. But other than that, both cars are still rear-wheel-drive and rocking six-speed manual gearboxes.

On the first run, a fast rolling start, the vehicle with the H1000 kit gapped the stock Blackwing by several car lengths. And, of course, we get to hear the sweet throaty song of their V8s as they speed off on a straight section of the Pennzoil Proving Grounds.

Meanwhile, the succeeding rolling start drag race was significantly slower, with the untouched Blackwing able to keep up with the much more powerful H1000-equipped super sedan. The gap was much closer, but halfway through, the tuned version left the stock car by several car lengths again.

While all that sounds impressive for Hennessey, the H1000 kit costs $15,000. As some of the video's commenters pointed out, that's a bit of a hefty price tag, considering that the modified car didn't completely demolish the stock version.

That's a lot of dough, but you're not getting a simple bolt-on setup, as the process also involves anengine rebuild. Plus, no matter the size of the gap between the cars, it is still a gap - insert cheesyFast & Furiousquote here.

This very same build candecimate a C8 Corvette Z06on the same grounds, which justifies the cost somewhat, but it's still no bargain. The Blackwing costs just under $92,000 stock, making it a $115k car when the tune is complete. Meanwhile, a Z06 starts at $105k. At the end of the day, you can have four-figure horsepower or a genuine supercar. We'd go with the Z06.