[Vince@ V K Motorwerks]

So me and a buddy of mine start talking about cars and the discussion of tq comes up. He believe that tq only purpose in racing is to get you off the line and then hp takes over to keep you going and once rolling tq no longer has relevence. My argument was that a car with high level of tq (like our cars) uses the tq to get off the line but the tq also comes in later when additional drag starts to build up at higher speeds since it will help push the car through it.

So who is right? please explain.
Thanks

[orionredwing]

There have been many good discussions on this, but I think my personal responses have gotten shorter over time. Do a quick search and you'll dig up a wealth of info.

So my really short response this time is that power under the curve is one of the best general indicators of a car's potential performance (besides power to weight ratios).
Since HP #s are derived from TQ*RPM/5252, the more area you have under the TQ graph, the better your car's response over the entire RPM range.

So your friend who believes that tq's major impact is only during launch is not mathematically / technically aware of the relationship between HP and TQ.

After that, you can factor in other performance enhancement factors...a big one is traction during launch, gearing, etc.

[Potty_Pants]

so i guess thats why the new M3 has 320ish hp and 420ish tq....

Dude I'll never fully understand how HP and TQ relates regardless of how many time i read tech articles.


all i know is hp gets you to the wall and tq gets you through it !


ppp

[E82tt6]

Neither of you :-D

It's area under the curve that matters. Whether you measure the area under the curve in HP or TQ is irrelevant.

Generally, you can get an idea of how a car drives by looking at the hp/tq relationship. A car with more tq than hp is one that generally runs out of steam on the top end, compared to its midrange performance. One that has much less tq than hp is the oposite. It feels gutless, until you get to high rpms.

[O-cha]

I should bring in my paint skillz for this thread.

[e90AW335i]

Originally Posted by O-cha

I should bring in my paint skillz for this thread.

+1000 Pleaseeeeeeeeee.......

[E82tt6]

Originally Posted by O-cha

I should bring in my paint skillz for this thread.

WTB "1000hp Supra, let's race from a roll!" graphic.

[hl0m4n]

all i know is torque moves the car and hp is what keeps it going

[seccsc]

Here you go.....

http://dmiessler.com/study/horsepower/

[seccsc]

Here is another thread....

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...horse+power%22

[jpsimon]

i like this description:
http://vettenet.org/torquehp.html

[sambonator]

Originally Posted by jpsimon

i like this description:
http://vettenet.org/torquehp.html

Ya that one is a good one.