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Old 03-18-2001, 07:59 PM   #6
JD@af
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Arrow enzo

You're almost right: its 5252. In layman's terms, horsepower is simply an application of torque. There are in general two ways to make big horsepower: large amounts of torque at moderate rpm, or moderate amounts of torque at high rpm.

A better measure of an engine's capabilities than horsepower is its torque, and in fact its torque curve. From that you can easily extrapolate the horsepower curve, as the horsepower curve is similar to a derivative (an old term from calculus - which by the way I passed by the skin of my teeth - but it follows the same principle).

Hopefully this example will help explain the horsepower versus torque principle. Texan posted a good explanation of this on SHO. I've got it on my computer at work, so I'll repost it here later.
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