Quote:
Originally Posted by TrackRat
Well sort of...
Torque is what accelerates a car so you can't just look at peak HP and assume that gearing will deliver the same acceleration even though the peak wheel torque/HP may be the same.
If you use more gearing via the trans or diff, then you need more engine rpm or your top speed is limited. You'd also need an engine thet revs very quickly, especially in the lower gears. So the bottom line is you want to have the maximum torque in the rpm band where the engine will operate.
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My example takes a static moment in time (which admittedly is pretty useless
) to illustrate a point. That is that HP is a function of torque, and using gearing, you can move the torque production around where needed. That doesn't necessarily express the flexibility of the engine. Take, for example, a diesel engine. They produce a lot of torque over a narrow RPM range, and therefore don't make very good sports car engines. Then again, more recent diesels are solving these problems, so I'm stuck with more bad examples
My bottom line is, I agree with what you said, 100%. It's just frustrating to read conversations where people (not you) talk about torque and horsepower as if they're two distinct measurements, and that engines either have one or the other.