Hennessey Performance, a Houston based performance tuner that previously had been focused mainly on the Dodge Viper, has expanded their horizons to include the new Viper powered Dodge RAM SRT-10. Unfortunately for Hennessey, we have heard that the company is more or less is a bad word to the tuners, performance and aftermarket shops here in the Houston area for "alleged" bad business practices and poor business ethics, but for some reason the people at Primedia's MotorTrend sure get excited every time they manage to roll something new off the assembly line which in Hennessey's case is an airplane hanger.

The RAM SRT-10 Venom, as we previously mentioned, is the latest creation of Hennessey Performance and is available is a series of packages from mild to wild which transforms this already quick performance truck into a tire shredding, fuel burning, race winning monster.

Some of the more notable packages are:

The 650R (630 hp/630 lb-ft torque) is a major engine upgrade where almost every internal component to the engine is upgraded one way or another while also adding a cold air induction system and long tube headers. Combine this with a ported and tuned engine and it adds a very solid 130 horsepower for just under 20K. Not exactly a bargain but it's got the internal upgrades needed to take it to the next level even if your bank account couldn't.

The RV650 (690 hp/690 lb-ft torque) has all the internal upgrades of the 650R, but the motor has been bored and stroked to a 522 CID adding a custom crankshaft, rods and pistons which is good for an additional 40hp to the 650R's 130. The cost, almost 35K and an estimated delivery date of just 8-12 Weeks.

The 800R (800 hp/900 lb-ft torque) utilizes the same engine components as the 650R but adds a pair of Garrett ball bearing turbos and a front mounted intercooler along with all the necessary tubing (polished of course) computer upgrades and additional tubing for just 42K and of course, allow 12-16 weeks for delivery.

The RV1000 (1000 hp/1100+ lb-ft torque) is the pride and joy, the truck flag ship if you will, for Hennessey's Venom RAM. This monster utilizes the RV650's base motor and adds the twin turbos allowing the custom tunning for this 522 CID stroked V-10 to crank out an amazing amount of power. The price? Well, if you have to ask then you can't afford it because they aren't going to publish this one as we would suspect it would cost more than the initial truck did.

Of course, all these kit's numbers are determined on an engine dyno or by using the standard drivetrain percentage conversion and not at the rear wheels, where the RV1000 was only able to put out 724.7 hp and 891.8 1b-ft torque to the ground, which is still an impressive amount of power, but still more than 270 hp shy of the advertised amount.

If you're like us and can't see paying that much money to upgrade your truck to a veritable monster that would quickly become uncontrollable on the road, Hennessey also sells components and other kits such as a centrifugal supercharger systems, cold air induction and long tube headers which will definitely give you the performance edge over a stock SRT-10, however we suspect that these items could be found as kits from other performance manufacturers at bargain prices that will keep you from morgaging your house and selling your kids to finance the modifications.

All in all the array of available RAM SRT-10 packages from Hennessey is impressive and the RV1000 Twin Turbo SRT-10 Venom is undeniably an incredible truck but these upgrades are something that Hennessey has been doing for years to the Vipers. Bottom line, we have to hand it to Hennessey for expanding their business to include trucks again but we can't get passed the continous rumors of the "alleged" bad business practices and poor ethics that surround the Hennessey camp, which is reason enough for us to think that their competitors over at TNT Motorsports would probably be able to easily duplicate this effort, without the headache of a lawsuit.

View the Packages...

Read TruckTrend's Venom 650 Article...

Watch A MotorTrend Video

Watch A Another Video