Originally Posted by shadowboy
you were right, until this paragraph (and you are still half-right).
peak acceleration at any given speed occurs at the POWER PEAK, not the torque peak.
peak acceleration in any given gear happens at the torque peak.
You are actually half right in this case. Max acceleration is always at TQ peak, with the max acceleration reduced as the car is shifted into higher gears.
HP just means that the TQ is available at a high enough RPM to push the car to high speeds and multiply to ludicrous torque in low gear.
F = m * a, where F = TQ in the case of a car.