that is what seperates the arguement right down the center... in the world of fast cars on the streets, it is time and money invested into the best combination producing the fastest results, not the "best-evar" combination... whereas when you look at the trail running four-wheeler's perspective of torque, horsepower is largely something that is just there. I've seen a samari with a stock motor crawl straight up a wall while idleing because it had just the right combination of gears for his needs, instead of speed, it was monster torque

so to end my point...: torque is what is needed to move, and horsepower dictates how fast a vehicle (or other object) will do so. more torque allows for these higher speeds to be accomplished faster.