It is almost ridiculous how freely we are talking about regular street-legal cars capable of 1,000 horsepower these days. Such progress was unthinkable less than four decades ago. Revolution began in Europe with Koenig Specials building road-worthy variants of the Ferrari Testarossa coming close to that hp rating. One of these projectiles is on sale in the USA right now.
The road to 1,000 PS (986 hp / 735 kW) was as long and bumpy as one would expect. The company started off low by developing an ECU tune for an extra 50 PS (49 hp / 37 kW) or so. It then added dual KKK turbochargers to the formula, a cold-air intake system, high-pressure cylinder seals and an all-new exhaust system starting with the manifolds and down to the finisher tips. When combined and properly set up, these mods enabled the 4.9-liter V12 of the Testarossa to nearly double its output capacity, culminating in 710 PS (700 hp / 522 kW).
When it came to breaking down the 1,000-PS barrier, though, it turned out that most of the components used for the previous tuning stages would need replacement. This included the turbos, the intercooler, the injection system and the ECU, among other things. When all was said and done, Koenig ended up with a hypercar for the road sounding like a dream come true (watch the video below with good headphones!).
This particular example also had its suspension and brakes reworked, a custom Koenig body kit installed for F40-esque looks, and a bespoke cabin overhaul in red.
Supercars for Sale lists the car for U.S. $540,000, which appears to be within the norm for tuned, low-mileage Testarossa models.