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What'. that? You're . power addict and the 426 horsepower with which Chevrolet endowed the 2010 Camaro SS is weaksauce?.

Here'. your fix. The orange 2010 Camaro SS you see above has been given the full Texas-style treatment, and .'. not talking about barbeque. Hennessey Performance Engineering, headquartered in Sealy, Texas, coerces more power out of more than just Mopars and Mitsubishis these days, and he'. turned his attention to Chevy'. latest pony car.

It'. called the Hennessey HPE550. The centerpiece of the conversion is the breathing enhancement delivered by . Magnuson Roots-style blower and liquid-to-air intercooler. Supplementing the 6 psi generated by the supercharger is . cold-air intake and free-flow exhaust. Owner John Hennessey tells us that the package swells peak power to 562 hp as measured at the flywheel..

Aftermarket horsepower claims are notoriously optimistic, so we did the obvious thing and strapped it to MD Automotive 's Dynojet in Westminster, California. The result was anything but weaksauce.

Click the jump for the dyno chart and video.

First, a caveat. Before we did any dyno runs, we noticed that the insides of our HPE550 test car's tailpipes were curiously free of the typical fine sooty layer that coats every car that runs on pump gas. Instead, they were fairly clean save for a light gray coating.

Then there was a faintly sweet smell from the exhaust when we put our boot in it on the dyno. A splash of race gas, perhaps? So we asked about what's in the tank. “The car is set up to run 98 octane. Right now the car has 91 octane mixed up to about 98 octane.”

That explains the sights and smells. The additional octane will plump up the car's output compared to what it would generate on the best pump gas you can get here in California, which is 91 octane. It's impossible to say how much, but it's something to keep in mind when you view the dyno chart.

And here it is (click the image for a larger version):

Good thing they mounted 315-series meats on the rear wheels.

Torque peaks at 525 lb-ft at 3,900 rpm, and the torque curve itself strikes a smooth arc from off-idle to redline. Peak power of 559 hp arrives right at the 6,500-rpm fuel cut. We're talking power. Serious power.

And once you consider that the drivetrain soaks up a bit of power in the U-joints, transmission and differential, it's generating even more power than Hennessey claims. Octane notwithstanding, of course.

It makes a heck of a noise, too, blasting a pissed-off exhaust roar that nearly overwhelms the lazy whine from that blower. It's a combination that makes parents clutch their children by the chest.

If you want just the power goodies, it'll run you a bit on either side of $10 grand depending on whether you choose a polished supercharger or a black-finished one.

We're thinking of taking this bad boy to the track. What do you think?

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