The power, performance, and drivability of today’s production cars is amazing. Family trucksters now have over 300 horsepower, and true performance cars have more than twice that many ponies under the factory hoods.

The OEMs have certain criteria they are required to meet in order for the cars to make it to the market and have good sales to the general public. Aftermarket companies, such as Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE) have similar concerns, but its market is much more performance-oriented and accepting of certain “performance” attributes.

What starts out as a quite-capable LT4-equipped Corvette, gets transformed into a fire-breathing monster with more than 1,100 horsepower on tap!

When the foundation you modify has 650 easy-to-drive, fuel-sipping horsepower, building on that foundation brings a solid starting point — as well as a few non-negotiables. The case in point is the new 1,100-horsepower Lingenfelter C7 Z06 package just released at SEMA.

We spoke with LPE’s Shawn Foy about the car and what it took to bring such a beast to market. Of course, the top-tier of Lingenfelter’s offering will have a vast supply of proprietary products onboard. That factory-supercharged LT4 got a hefty helping of better breathing through a set of Lingenfelter CNC’d heads and a Lingenfelter-spec’d camshaft. There’s also a cavernous 112mm throttle body that flows air from idle to global-vacuum.

One of the biggest areas that required upgrading was the fuel system. Since the LT4’s Direct-Injection system is separated into both low- and high-pressure systems, it goes without saying that in order to get enough fuel into this beast requires updating both sides. In fact, there are THREE in-tank pumps to ensure that this engine doesn’t starve for fuel at any point in the RPM range. Of course, the ECU has had the necessary tweaks to fine-tune that diet of fuel and air. While the crew was at it, Lingenfelter incorporated E85 capability into the package — for when the power dial gets turned all the way to eleven.

The view most everyone else will see.

Even at these levels, the Lingenfelter team ensured that everything operated as it should. Shawn explained to us, “Making power is easy. Getting the fuel system right is the big thing for us, and this car uses our entire fuel system front to rear!”

Building a C7 Z06 into an 1,100-horsepower equipped vehicle has about an 8-week turnaround from the time the car is shipped to Lingenfelter. While those eight weeks may pass by achingly slow as you anticipate your new supercar, EVERYTHING will be going MUCH faster once it is delivered!