and thier relationship with one another. Also the part gearing plays...as well as the usable power band? Lets hear your thoughts and ideas on what,why, how.

I want to start some discussion since this seems to be one of the most misunderstood ideas of all time. Dont worry if you dont understand it...its not something youll get overnight.

So...what makes a car fast...and why?

 

its soo simple its retarded...

torque is the raw push your engine can provide...displacment.

horsepower is how FAST you can use that raw pushing power.

Engine design and pupose defines that line of torque and horespower...for a race/street car you would want a balance of both.

F1 cars have as little as 1.8 liters, but turn almost 20 grand...not a torque power plant but hp is in the 700-800hp range.

trucks pushing shit arnt hp machines, and they cant be if they are deigned for low end towing power...if they had topend power they would just stall the truck out and wouldnt push shit.

 

Torque = fun
Torque moves your car , not horsepower.
Without torque you can have no horsepower.

Horsepower is the amount of work the torque can supply.

400hp at 4000 rpm is more fun than 400hp at 6000rpm (because the engine makes more torque)

400ftlbs at 6000rpm is more fun than 400ftlbs at 4000 rpm ( engine makes moe powa)

Torque applied over a broad rpm band is far more fun than torque applied to a short rpm band.

 

I think having a good amount if displacment, and then having a very good topend works well taking a car through the turns off boost gently, and them stomping it in the straights with maximum topend power.

A large amount of displacment would work in a track car, but would require more care with the power.

Drag cars work best with larger dislacment because you can control the launch better with alot of torque...unlike a boosted small engine witch requires brake boosting or slipping the clutch to get any good of a launch.

From a roll, a larger displacment engine wont perform as well as a topend machine because you have the lower powerband of the v8 wich is more suited for a fast launch vs the topend machine that likes its power in the higher revs and speeds.

There isnt such a thing as the fastest all around car in the world. The super cars of the world can get easily wipped by the high displacment drag cars of today...likewise I wanna see a drag car go against a ferrari on a curcuit.

Thats why theres a million different cars and engines...not everone llikes to drag race, not everyone likes to road race, and some people just want to fucking get to work without worrying

 

Your definition is bias. Your definition isnt universal. I have drove a c5, but I prefer my supra where it has very good off-boost torque, but when you stomp on it and boost your thrown back in an instant....now THATS more fun for ME.

Whatever you like...go with it...dont listen or take shit from no ones

 

I have a feeling al found something out that we dont know....

 

horsepower is where in the power band torque is being made. most heavy equipment (bulldozers, front end loaders, dump trucks, buses, semis) are making less than 400HP but they are making that with a 2500RPM redline making that much power that low comes from having TONS of torque. Torque is a Real measurement of power, horsepower is just a number derived from the relation of torque at a certain RPM.

 

Haven't seen anything about gearing...

Torque is multiplied through the gearing, but horsepower stays the same. That's because HP = (TQ x RPM)/5252 roughly. The higher your gear ratio, the more torque you're putting to the ground.

 

this is torque


















and this is horsepower:

 

Engines arent some mystery that people have secrets about