MASSIVE ATTACK

Mammoth by name, this Hennessey-tuned pick-up truck is also gargantuan in size, weighs 3.5 tonnes and packs 1012bhp from a supercharged V8 for 0-60mph in 3.2sec. Matt Prior drives it

- Matt Prior

I’m an extremely professional car reviewer. My colleagues always say as much when they’re waiting for my overdue copy to be filed, or for me to arrive late to a photoshoot. Yup. There’s nothing I won’t drive and no job I won’t undertake.

But oh dear, today I almost wish there was. On my driveway is a car that makes the vehicle next to it – an Audi Q7 V12 – look discreet. It is a Mammoth Ram 1500 TRX, a pick-up modified by American tuner Hennessey. And right now, I’d rather it was a Hyundai i10.

I’ve never felt so conspicuous. Partly it’s the size – well over two metres wide and five metres long. Then it’s the hardware. In front, the TRX has a 6.2-litre supercharged V8 engine with – wait for it – 1012bhp. Hennessey claims it is the fastest and most powerful pick-up ever produced. It has 969lb-ft of torque and can go from 0-60mph in, it’s claimed, 3.2sec. It weighs 3538kg and I can’t think of a car that is as out of step with current automotive trends. Still, at least it’s a subtle colour, eh?

I’ve suggested we photograph it in Bristol, home to plenty of heavy dated ironwork itself: there are girder bridges and railways, and its bustling harbour area was a proud ship-building hub. It’s also a historic urban environment in which the TRX will look, well, simply as big as its size dictates it will look. I prepare my “it’s not mine” shtick for dubious onlookers and brace to get through the day.

Context is everything. John Hennessey has been “making fast cars faster since 1991” and has modified more than 10,000 cars or trucks in that time from Hennessey Performance’s base in Texas, where it has its own quarter-mile dragstrip and where, you’d imagine, Rams look less conspicuous.