Hennessey’s Mustang hits 208mph

If you buy a 2015 Ford Mustang and politely hand it over to John Hennessey - along with a healthy pile of cash - he'll hand it back significantly faster.

How fast? 207.9mph of fast, that's how fast. That's the speed Hennessey's just clocked in one of his HPE750 supercharged Mustangs, at the Continental Tire Proving Ground in Texas.

Ford Performance Racing School instructor Brian Smith was the man with the lead foot, while Jay Leno was on hand to witness the event too.

So what's a HPE750, then? Hennessey's modified ‘Stang gets a 2.9-litre supercharger system strapped to the Ford 5.0-litre V8, along with a special carbon fibre air induction system, meatier fuel pump, upgraded fuel injectors, and a tweaked ECU.

With all this on board, it kicks out 774bhp, 648lb ft of torque, will hit 0-60mph in 3.4 seconds, run a quarter mile in 10.9 seconds (at 133mph), and top out at... well, now we know.

Back in February, Hennessey tried to join the 200mph club at the same track but only managed a measly 195mph.

"If at first you don't succeed, just add more horsepower and rpm and try again," he said at the time. Wise words, chief.