This Toyota Prius has a bonafide Hellcat engine in place of its tiny motor

How do you make the Toyota Prius exciting? How about multiplying its power by a factor of 10 and slapping on a set of drag slicks out back. According to The Fast Lane Car and an official video they dropped from SEMA earlier today (Oct. 31,2017) American Racing Headers finally pulled the sheet off one of the most polarizing builds to grace SEMA’s floor. It’s called the SRT8 Hellcat Prius and its far from saving the earth from exhaust emissions as you can get. Check out “The Fast Lane Car’s” video below.

I first got inklings of this project earlier last year when several outlets, including Motor Trend, dropped the details on what was going to be a swap of epic proportions. In its stock form, the Toyota Prius was engineered to at least handle 110 HP and 82 lb-ft of earth-loving torque. Without any modification, the Hellcat engine makes 707 HP and 650 lb-ft.

If you simply drop that engine and somehow shoehorn it into the Prius, the sheer power of that engine would most likely rip the Prius in two. Thankfully, these madmen at American Racing Headers have fabbed up an NHRA spec racing cage to both cradle the engine and protect the driver. Paired with the engine is a Tremec-sourced Magnum six-speed and custom Ford 9-inch rear end built to withstand drag racing forces that’ll shake the chassis and driver to the bone.

Because it’s an NHRA spec roll cage, you can expect to see this SRT8Prius on the dragstrip once they’ve given it a proper shakedown.

https://twitter.com/GeekyGearhead99/status/925424469170044928

Noteworthy on this build is the paint job and decals they’ve applied. You’ve got to hand it to ARH as they’ve at least got a sense of humor about the entire project. They’ve painted the exterior an olive green with a matte finish so technically it is ” a green car.” On the front bumper is the #YHGTBFSM (we’ll let you rack your brain on what that means) with laughing emojis on either side. In place of HOV stickers, its got decals saying “Mean air vehicle” in its place. And if those decals weren’t enough, the rear drag slicks out back should be hints enough that this ain’t your Mom’s Prius.

The only way this build can get any better is to see it in motion. I can’t wait to see ARH drop a quarter mile pass soon. Perhaps they’ll bring it to Las Vegas Motor Speedway before they ship the car back to New York.