Power-league: all the members of the 1000 horsepower club

But now there’s a growing number of members in this exclusive club. Many far exceed that entry requirement and plenty now have help from electric motors that points the direction hypercars are taking.

To find out what your options are to join the 1000 club, here’s our list of those that make the grade in ascending order of power output:

Speciality Vehicle Engineering has a background in drag racing in the USA, so building a 1000bhp Corvette is well within its usual sphere of work. The Stage II Yenko/SC uses a much modified 6.8-litre Chevrolet engine with a supercharger added to gain that magic four digit power figure. It works through a seven-speed manual gearbox as standard, with a ticket price of $71,020 (£53,000) over above the cost of buying a Corvette. That makes this possibly the best value 1000bhp car on offer today.

The Yenko Corvette also has uprated brakes and suspension to cope with the power, but if that sounds like too much to handle the company also makes one with 835bhp. Or you can have a Camaro with the same choice of engines.

Those power-crazed kooks at Hennessey don’t just limit themselves to bespoke hypercars: they’ll build you a 1000bhp Cadillac CTS-V called the HPE1000. This four-door luxury saloon offers 0-60mph in 2.7 seconds and 200mph top speed. All of this is thanks to the hand-assembled 6.2-litre V8 and supercharger, and it comes with a two-year, 24,000-mile warranty.

The Cadillac CTS-V HPE1000 retains the Cadillac’s automatic gearbox, suitably upgraded to cope with the power, and it’s rear-wheel drive. As a four-seater, the Hennessey’s power and performance make it an unusual choice if you can afford the $163,480 (£122,000) entry price.

If the regular Model S from Tesla wasn't enough to give you the visceral thrill you were after, the brand’s recently revised Model S Plaid will certainly change that. With just over 1000bhp on offer and an official kerb weight some 200kg less than that of a Porsche Taycan Turbo S, the Plaid can go from 0-60 in a claimed 1.99 seconds. Whilst this may only be achievable in the most ideal of ideal conditions, these are still some eye-watering numbers.

With prices starting from £118,980 ($159,433) in the UK, the Model S Plaid certainly isn't cheap in contrast to a lot of other electric vehicles currently on sale. However, when pitted against the other entries listed on our 1000bhp club shortlist, the Plaid almost represents good value for money.

Bristol’s Fighter T was always going to take a different path to most cars joining the 1000bhp club. After all, Bristol Cars has never been one to follow the herd, so the Fighter T used an 8.0-litre V10 borrowed from the Dodge Viper and added twin turbochargers to generate 1012bhp and 1036lb ft of torque. Flat out, it was said to be good for 270mph, but Bristol limited the small number of customer cars to just 225mph when the motor was spinning at only 4500rpm.

Just 13 Fighter Ts were built and each cost from £346,625 ($464,500), which was £115,000 more than the standard Fighter that was already very rapid. For the extra cash, as well as the increased power you got a stiffer chassis and uprated suspension to deal with the brute force of the motor and higher potential speeds.

The 2022 Lucid Air certainly earns it's keep within this list, yet it achieves its title with no tailpipe emissions due to its lithium-ion batteries and twin electric motors. Lucid will sell you a slightly less performance-orientated model if you're simply looking do your part for the planet, however this is the version to have if you want to keep company with other 1000bhp+ cars. Choose the more potent version and it sees off 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds and tops out at a restricted 217mph.

Impressive stuff for a four-door saloon aimed at the luxury end of the market. Just as relevantly, the Air can manage up to 520 miles between recharging halts and rapid charging means you can be ready to go in 30 minutes. And Lucid Air wants more than just hypercar customers to own the Air, so the price for the base model is £55,223 ($74,000) in the USA.

It didn’t take Aston Martin long to shift all 150 road-going Valkyrie cars as customers clamoured for the V12-engined hypercar, each selling for an impressive £2.8 million ($3.8 million). With 1160bhp, it’s easily the most powerful car the company has ever produced and the quickest too. Aston says the car can lap the Silverstone Grand Prix track in the same time as a current Formula 1 car thanks to its huge amounts of downforce that allow for high cornering speeds.

The 6.5-litre V12 petrol engine is sufficient to see the Valkyrie into the 1000bhp club, while the electric motor adds 160bhp to the mix. To build these engines, Aston sought help from Cosworth for the V12 and Rimac for the electric motor, and combined they offer more than 1bhp per kilogramme thanks to the car’s 1030kg weight.

Having previously taken the guise of the lesser-powered (if you can call it that) 'TS1 GT' which made it's debut in 2016, the TSR-S takes itself just that little bit more seriously and incorporates a revised and even brawnier powertrain producing 1177bhp, along with some seriously impressive active aero. With a twin-supercharged 5.8-litre V8 sitting just ahead of the rear-axle, the TSR-S is able to complete the 0-62 mph dash in as little as 2.8 seconds and go on to hit a limited top speed of 202mph.

Having only manufactured around five units per year previously, the TS1 GT derivative never seemed to catch on as a viable alternative to the other mainstream options available at the time. Zenvo have not only upped the ante with the TSR-S but also the price. A brand new example will set you back the best part of £1.5 million ($2 million).

The Veyron may have been usurped by the Chiron now, but Bugatti’s original hypercar remains the most recognisable and the Super Sport was its ultimate incarnation. Its 1184bhp was some 198bhp more than the standard Veyron’s and pushed top speed up to 268mph while lowering the 0-62mph sprint to 2.5 seconds.

Only 25 Super Sports were made at a price of £2 million ($2.7 million). If the price seems steep, it’s worth considering the engine could drain its 100-litre tank in less than eight minutes if driven flat out. It makes the combined economy of 12.2mpg see almost frugal.

The idea of a Formula 1 car for the road has never really been realised, but Mercedes-AMG gets closer than most with its Project One. Using an F1-derived hybrid power set-up, the Project One comes with a 1.6-litre V6 petrol engine and four electric motors to deliver up to 1231bhp.

Electricity isn’t just for the quadruple motors either as the Project One V6’s turbocharger is electrically powered to get the most from every drop of fuel. As a result, the Mercedes covers 0-62mph in less than 2.5 seconds and doesn’t stop till 217mph is registering on the speedo. Only 275 units have been given the go ahead for production, each commanding an asking price of £2 million ($2.7 million). It’s been quite a while since Lewis Hamilton unveiled the concept car, named Project One, at the Frankfurt motor show in 2017, but we hope to finally see customers getting deliveries in 2022.

The SSC Aero kickstarted this Corvette-powered hypercar line with 782bhp and the Ultimate Aero finished it with 1300bhp. Twin turbochargers helped the XT almost double the starting horsepower of the car and saw top speed reach 256mph, though wind tunnel testing suggested it could manage 273mph in favourable conditions.

The XT was the only Ultimate Aero to use a 6.9-litre Chevrolet V8 motor and during testing for its top speed runs it was reported to generate wheelspin at 190mph. With that sort of power on demand, it may explain why only five of the $740,000 (£552,000) XTs found buyers.

The NextEV NIO EP9 has recorded a 6min 45.9sec lap of the Nürburgring Norschleife, putting it just half a second behind a Lamborghini Aventador LP770-4 SVJ on very sticky tyres. So, the EP9 is the quickest EV so far around this track and very quick in corners as well as in the straight line.

It does help when you have 1340bhp, or 1-megawatt, on call from the NextEV’s four electric motors. Just as vitally, the EP9 comes with active suspension and aerodynamics that generate 2.5-tonnes of downforce at 150mph to come close to matching a Formula 1 car’s. All of this will set you back $1.2 million (£920,000) and six have been sold so far.

Few doubted the Chiron would trump the Veyron when Bugatti launched the new model, but a leap of 296bhp to come up with 1479bhp was still a surprise. That’s a lot of power for £2.5 million ($3.35 million) and it can hit 261mph, though this is electronically limited due to the standard tyres not being able to cope with any more. A modified Chiron currently holds the production car world speed record, cracking 304.77mph in 2019.

While that top speed is attention-grabbing, it’s what else the quad-turbo 8.0-litre W16 Chiron does with its huge power that entertains. Nought to 60mph in 2.4 seconds isn’t as quick as some, but the Bugatti just keeps forcing its way forward with no let up before it butts into that limiter at 261mph like a bull annoyed at being held back by a gate. It’s a stark demonstration of just how powerful the Chiron is.

Koenigsegg is unapologetic about not chasing ever larger numbers from its turbocharged 5.0-litre V8 motor. It reckons that’s plenty and instead sought better throttle response with smaller turbos. This is possible thanks to the engine making 1100bhp on its own and any lag from the turbos is filled in by the 700bhp electric motor, giving a combined 1500bhp.

So, the Regera is a hybrid hypercar that has a 255mph top speed reined in by an electronic limiter. It can also cover 0-62mph in 2.8 seconds and sprint from rest to 186mph in 10.9 seconds. All of this is managed without a traditional gearbox as the Regera uses the Swedish firm’s Direct Drive transmission that helps to keep weight down to 1590kg compared to the heft of a Bugatti’s Chiron at 1995kg. With production capped to 80 units, each Regera has a base price of $1.9 million (£1.4 million).

There are Cobra replicas and then there’s 1600bhp street legal Weineck Cobra. About the only thing this open-top two-seater has in common with the 1960s original is the basic shape, and even the Weineck sports a massive bonnet scoop to feed air to the 16.0-litre V8.

Yes, that’s right, the Weineck can be had with engines of up to 16.0-litres, which is enough to catapult it from rest to 0-186mph in less than 10 seconds with no assistance from turbo or supercharging. Each motor is hand-built at the factory in Bad Gandersheim and can rev to 9500rpm. All of this explains the €545,000 (£467,000) price tag for this roadgoing drag machine.

Hennessey describes the Venom F5 as ‘America’s Hypercar’. That’s about as fair a description as you can get before the numbers begin to boggle your brains. It’s easily done when you consider this sleek looking machine packs a twin-turbo 7.6-litre V8 with 1817bhp. This is enough for a claimed 0-60mph in less than 3.0 seconds, 0-186mph in under 10 seconds and from rest to 249mph needing less than half a minute of your time.

Another consequence of the Hennessey’s huge power output is a top speed quote at 301mph, though this is yet to be proven. Only 24 Venom F5s are planned for production and each will cost $1.65 million (£1.23 million), which makes the Venom look like keen value next to a Bugatti Chiron.

Rimac has already made its mark with the Concept One electric hypercar. Each of the eight built cost £1 million and that bought you a battery-powered car capable of 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds courtesy of its 1224bhp. But that’s not nearly enough for this Croatian firm, so it’s come up with the Nevera with 1914bhp from its two front and two rear motors.

The company is planning to build 150 Nevera models, each costing £1.7 million ($2.3 million). For this, you get a zero emissions car able to dash off 0-62mph in 1.85 seconds and carry on to 258mph thanks to new liquid-cooling for the battery packs. Fully charged, they offer a range of 341 miles as tested under WLTP conditions.

Having previously only ever manufactured cars that were massively capable through the bends, Lotus's new Evija is a far cry from Elises and Exiges of old. With four 493bhp electric motors sending power to each wheel individually, Lotus has created the most powerful road-going production car to date. Although Lotus draws attention to the fact that the Evija is not simply a one-trick pony, its straight line credentials are certainly noteworthy. 0-186mph happens in just nine seconds, although a top speed is yet to be confirmed.

Production of the Evija will be limited to just 130 units, each with an asking price of £1.7 million ($2.3 million). Whilst this is certainly steep, you do get a fairly practical EV for your money. Lotus claims the Evija will deliver around 215 miles of range on a full charge (WLTP), however if the boundaries of its performance are even remotely explored, you'll likely get nowhere near that.