We brought you news last week that Hennessey had just established it’s sixth-gen Camaro, dubbed The Exorcist, as the fastest of its kind after it went 217 mph around Continental Tires’ Uvalde Proving Grounds, besting even the venerable ZR1. The 1,000-horsepower tire shredder was built with the specific duty of slaying Demons. And whether or not you agree with its target, and the means by which it attempts to accomplish it, you have to admit that it’s a stout beast.
But without quarter-mile times, it was hard to take it seriously as a competitor to the fastest production car ever built—in a straight line anyways. When the 217 mph pass dropped, it was serious news. The Demon’s top speed is nowhere near that—though that’s limited by the drag radials it runs stock—but that’s not what it was built for, after all. It was built to do one thing well, and that’s going in a straight line as fast as possible from a dig.
So, if you’re going to call yourself “The Exorcist”, you better damn well be capable of walking the walk when it comes to straight-line performance. We know that, and so does Hennessey. So, after only a week of setting their top-speed record, they have now released footage of the Exorcist laying down a blistering 9.57-second quarter-mile pass at 147 mph.
While that’s only a little less than a tenth of a second faster to the stripe compared to the Demon, its trap speed was more than 7 mph faster. Clearly, there’s more in the setup, perhaps if they went with a smaller wheel and larger radial at the rear, but it’s still plenty quick. According to Hennesey, the Exorcist makes the sprint to 60 mph in just 2.1 seconds and will complete the dash to 100 mph in just 4.7 seconds. No matter how you look at it, that’s just downright impressive. Not to mention, the Camaro didn’t have to kick one of its passenger seats to the curb to do it.
And though it may be a somewhat apples-to-oranges comparison since the Camaro is modified with aftermarket parts by a third party, both vehicles carry similar warranties: a 36,00-mile/ 3-year guarantee. Does that mean this is a fair comparison? Maybe, maybe not. But no matter how you look at it, the Exorcist is a serious contender and capable of much more than just sprints in a straight line.
Just listen to the Camaro as its 10-speed transmission cracks off shifts and keeps it in the power band for a ridiculous amount of time. You can see on the RPM gauge from the cockpit that each shift is dropping the revs maybe 1,000 rpm. Combined with the CNC ported cylinder heads, custom bumpstick, and Whipple supercharger sitting astride the LT4, The Exorcist is making no excuses in the horsepower department.
We’d love to see a Demon and an Exorcist go head-to-head… on the track, obviously. What do you think of the Exorcist? Is it worth the money? Let us know in the comments below.