Hoonigans Built an IRL Warthog From Halo With 1,000 Horsepower
Hoonigans built an IRL Warthog from Halo with a Ford engine and 1,000 horsepower, and it’s as cool as you’d expect. The upcoming release of the next installment in the video game series is on the horizon. However, a part of Halo already exists in real life. One of these always seems to make an appearance when a new Halo game is releasing, but this one is different. Hoonigans Warthog is fully functional and specifically built for the Master Chief himself. Not to mention that it’s incredibly powerful and entirely custom built.
A Warthog from Halo, but with 1,000 horsepower
Powering the IRL Warthog is a Ford Small Block 351 Windsor V8 engine with an increased stroke to 438 to boost the power output of the engine. 428 cubic inch twin turbos are also thrown in, all connected to a Gearstar Supermatic 80 transmission with Pro-Billet Torque Converters and an Atlas 2 Speed Transfer Case. All of this together inside Chief’s vehicle of choice gives it the ability to reach over 100 mph. 1,000 horsepower is a lot, so an intercooler system had to be custom-built. The massive engine leaves very little extra space to work with. That’s why the piping had to be custom-made to be able to function properly while remaining aesthetically pleasing. The Warthog even has the ability to switch between front, rear, and all-wheel drive.
Hoonigans chose DTC60 Fox Motorsport Brake Pads to stop the massive Warthog as it travels over 100 miles per hour. These pads can withstand temperatures above 1600 degrees Fahrenheit and can stop a tank. Though this is a Warthog and not a Scorpion, the real-life Warthog is pretty close to a tank. Unfortunately, there is no real working mounted turret on the back. Though it might be a good move, as we don’t think that would go ever well on public roads.
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The chassis the entire thing is built on is completely custom from Red Dot Engineering. According to Hoonigan, it is one of the last Kevin Carroll chassis built by Carroll before he lost his life in a plane crash. As demonstrated in the video, it has four-wheel steering, meaning the wheels can turn in opposing directions. The developers note that this is extremely dangerous for traveling at high speeds, but that didn’t stop them from giving this thing 1,000 horsepower. The team at Hoonigan customized the chassis to be longer and wider to properly fit the specs of a Warthog. This took completely hand-built pieces and changes to the existing chassis.
The team from Hoonigan didn’t just wing it either. They did plenty of research through playing the games, looking at scale models, and talking with 343 Industries. 343 is the current developer behind the Halo games. Though Bungie was the company that created the Warthog originally in Halo: Combat Evolved back in 2001, 343 gave plenty of insider knowledge to Hoonigan on how to properly build a real one.
History of the Warthog
The Warhog first appeared in the original Halo game on Xbox in 2001. Its official name is the M12 Force Application Vehicle (M12-FAV) but is almost always called the Warthog. Though it has received new looks throughout its lifetime in the many Halo iterations, it has remained generally the same. 1 driver, 1 passenger, and a turret gunner are able to climb aboard. The turret in the back is removable, meaning the passenger version (Scout Warthog) Hoonigans made is still in-game accurate. It most commonly comes equipped with the M41 Vulcan chaingun, but can also have an M39 Rocket Turret, M68 Gauss Cannon, or M79 rocket launcher. In real-time strategy spin-off Halo Wars, a flame-covered Warthog appears called the Fireball Scout Warthog.
There have been a lot of different versions of Halo’s Warthog throughout the years, and gamers everywhere have always dreamed about driving one. It is one of the most iconic vehicles in video game history, and this real one does it justice. Hoonigans did as they always do and made the Warthog even more powerful in real life than it is in the game. This beast of a machine is one of the coolest media-inspired real-life vehicles we’ve seen. That’s why when we saw Muscle Cars & Trucks mention it, we had to check it out for ourselves. The next version of the Warthog will come when Halo Infinite releases on December 8, 2021.
