Video: 800HP Cadillac Escalade Outruns Camaro ZL1 1LE

Hennessey Performance is at it again. A drag race between a Hennessey Escalade and a stock Camaro ZL1 1LE proves embarrassing for the American muscle car.

If you don’t know what Hennessey Performance does by now, you have been living under a rock. However, we will remind you one last time. This company is well-known for building some of the most over-the-top power upgrades for already-fast performance cars. Its latest project is an 800-horsepower 2018 Cadillac Escalade using the HPE800 package.

Yes, you heard that right – a large SUV like the Cadillac Escalade has been upgraded to put out a whopping 800 horses! To top off that noise, it has recently gone up against (and outrun) a stock 2018 Camaro ZL1 1LE on the drag strip.

Basically, by installing a high-flow 2.9L supercharger to the 6.2-liter V8 engine (in addition to other upgrades), the tuner managed to unleash an impressive 805 horses and 812 lb-ft of torque from the beefy SUV. To put it into perspective for non-numbers folks, that is practically double the power and torque of a stock Escalade. The results are pretty incredible, in that the Hennessey Escalade can reach 60 mph in a mere 3.7 seconds and cover the quarter-mile in 11.7 seconds at 116 mph. Those numbers alone make the Escalade drag-race worthy and it definitely lives up to that when stacked up against a naturally-powerful Camaro.

Many of you are probably scratching your head, wondering why Hennessey Performance would have an Escalade go against a Camaro. Well, regardless of the company’s train of thought, it made for an interesting race!

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The Camaro ZL1 1LE right off the showroom floor is a beast, powered by a 6.2-liter LT4 V8 engine that is paired with a six-speed manual transmission with Active Rev Match. This powerful engine sends 650 horses to the rear wheels for a ride that proves its fun to drive and a force to be reckon with.

The rear-wheel-drive system may have been a downside in this situation since the Escalade should naturally perform better with its all-wheel-drive system. Having said that, though, the Camaro is surely much lighter than the SUV (a little over a ton), so the race is pretty run to watch regardless.

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Prepare yourself for quite the interesting battle below. Watch the Escalade completely leave the Camaro in the dust right from the start. Keep your eyes open, though, the Camaro does impressively reel it in soon after.

Warning: this video may have you saying “well, that escalated quickly” – pun intended! Also, peep that amazing burnout right at the beginning of the clip.

What are your thoughts on the Hennessey Escalade? The upgrade is pricy, but certainly proves itself in this race. Let us know your overall opinions on the race as well. We’d love to hear from you! Battle it out in the comment section below.