Thread: Battle of hp & torque

So what about cars that have full torque at say 1900 rpm. Is that a bad thing or a good thing. Or do you constantly want to build torque along with Horsepower?

Mini Cooper S comes to mind here with the max torque at 1900 RPM.

Torque is a force. You can have 300lbs of torque on a breaker bar without ever moving the nut you are trying to move. HP is a mathematical equation of work being done. Torque isn't accomplishing anything until it causes work to be completed. Then you can calculate hp.

I can apply 300lbs of torque to a bolt for 6 hours. This is torque over time like you said. But if I don't cause any movement, then no work is being accomplished. HP is a measure of work being completed.

So you are half-right.

All things being equal, whoever has the highest average output over the rev range they are being operated at will win.

Dang, ben beat me to it.

Well, having a flat torque curve isn't as cool as having a flat hp curve. If you made a constant 200whp with an electric motor in your SEL it would be so stupid fast off the line you wouldn't know what to do with your tire carcasses. lol.

Having torque sooner means you will have more hp in that area of the powerband, thus accelerate faster. This makes the engine perform over a broad powerband.

I like to show my dyno graph because it is a perfect example of a horrible powerband. When I shift I lose about 80whp on the old setup. If I kept a constant 400whp flat from 5000-7500rpm then the car would be so much faster!

Now Coheed is that because when you would shift you would be outside of VVL?

Now the SR20DE NA torque band is a bit linear... Man it looks so weak!



Here is a T25 one. As you can see with higher RPM's the T25 just face plants in the torque department.

you cant say regardless of torque can you? that would be saying a high horse power motorcycle engine could move our cars just because it has horsepower. torque it still required to get the car moving otherwise you would be sitting on the line...

I dont have the time right now but this is not all accurate from a physics perspective.

Fixed that for yah.

I'm saying a high horsepower motor cycle engine would move "your" cars. Torque doesn't translate to movement.

so you guys are telling me a 200hp .6 liter w/ little torque will move the car just as fast as a 200hp 2 liter with moderate torque? something seems a bit wrong here to me... or am i missing something?

That sucks my t-25 made 250tq and 230whp soo does that mean I'm special since my tq didn't fall on its face?


Here is a T25 one. As you can see with higher RPM's the T25 just face plants in the torque department.
[/QUOTE]