Torque advantage

is 10 extra Ft lbs of torque a huge advantave in racing if the horsepower of two cars are the same but the one with the extra torque is 200 lbs heavyer?

no advantage at all.
10 ft lbs., but 200 lbs. heavier?
he'll probably still lose the race... honestly.

Like flylwsi said, 10 extra ft/lbs of torque is a very small advantage, but 200 extra pounds of weight is a huge disadvantage.

and just to muddy the waters...its not just about weight to power ratio...the powerband, and gear ratios will make a huge difference


the only way to find out for sure who is faster is to race

Can you explain about powerband\gear ratio? I didn't undderstand it.

I'm guessing this is a drag race correct?

Can you explain about powerband\gear ratio? I didn't undderstand it.


this article will explain it better than i can

http://vettenet.org/torquehp.html

lets say for instance....1 car is an AWD impreza and the other car is an Integra GS-R.

the gsr has what, 170 hp, and we'll say 120 lbs. trq.
the impreza has 165 hp, and 165 lbs of trq.
they weigh in about the same, 2880 lbs.
(this is all off the top of my head, and i'm not sure the numbers are right, but it's just an example.

It would seem like the impreza would win...but because of the crappy gearing and total lack of top end, the gs-r eats up the 4 lengths the impreza puts on it to 65, then flys by at around 70 and pulls a few cars till around 95 when i'm in 5th and he/she's in 3rd or mid 4th.

sooo...the impreza is better geared for quicker 0-~60, and the integra a quicker ~50 - whatever.

but that's kinda a bad example i guess. argh..hopefully it helped some.

In other words, excellent torque is very good for low speeds, excellent horsepower is very good for top speeds.

In other words, excellent torque is very good for low speeds, excellent horsepower is very good for top speeds.


no no its all about the torque curve and rpm...horsepower its just a function of torque..read the article behind the link i posted...it explains a lot

and the gearing matters since it determines how that torque is put down

exactly.

In other words, excellent torque is very good for low speeds, excellent horsepower is very good for top speeds.

Horsepower is a derivative of Torque.


Horsepower = Torque * RPM / 5252

Learn yourself :): http://vettenet.org/torquehp.html

EDIT: Ooops. Didn't realize you posted the same link already Neut.

Let use this example. My car weighs 3100lbs, when I first got it with minor mods it made 230lbs of Tq, thus has 13.47lbs of Tq per pound of weight. Other side if it weighed 3300lbs and had 240lbs of Tq, it would make 13.75lbs per pound of weight. So in this case the more weight would be better.

I just wanted to sound scientific one time in my life.... Thank you all for being a part of this.

Let use this example. My car weighs 3100lbs, when I first got it with minor mods it made 230lbs of Tq, thus has 13.47lbs of Tq per pound of weight. Other side if it weighed 3300lbs and had 240lbs of Tq, it would make 13.75lbs per pound of weight. So in this case the more weight would be better.

I just wanted to sound scientific one time in my life.... Thank you all for being a part of this.


that is 1 Lbs torque per 13.47 Lbs of weight

your 13.47 LBS Tq per 1 pound of weight would result in you having 41757 Lbs torque :eek:...that would be some power

:)

that would be NO traction...lol

Bah. Torque becomes less important the lighter your car gets. At that point, it's how fast your engine can spin with a given amount of torque (i.e. hp) that matters.

Don't beleive me? Look at the numbers for F1 racecars.

Bah. Torque becomes less important the lighter your car gets. At that point, it's how fast your engine can spin with a given amount of torque (i.e. hp) that matters.

Don't beleive me? Look at the numbers for F1 racecars.

no this from a wankel boy....nevah


;):biggrin:

"So in this case the more weight would be better."

No, the more weight is still more worser, it is the more power that is more betterer.

You're both right sheesh...


Lighter you can make the car, the less power it takes to travel as fast as say a heavier car. If you can pump out equal power between a light car and the heavier car, odds are the lighter car will be faster.


Sheesh you don't need to be a rocket-surgeon to know that... :icon16:

no this from a wankel boy....nevah


;):biggrin:

:slap: :D

;)

Woah need some words in here too...

well let me put in my 2 cents. hp really means nothing. hp is just a number that comes from the amount of work you can do with a given tq. like what carnutt said. hp = (tq*RPM)/5252. or 5250 depending on were you learned it from.

Sheesh you don't need to be a rocket-surgeon to know that... :icon16:

Quit stealing my lines, bish! http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/images/smilies/loser.gif

well let me put in my 2 cents. hp really means nothing. hp is just a number that comes from the amount of work you can do with a given tq. like what carnutt said. hp = (tq*RPM)/5252. or 5250 depending on were you learned it from.

Horsepower isn't just a dumb number, it's a measure of POWER (hence horsePOWER), and power is what we want with cars. Power is a measure of wrok over time. You can be making 50 foot pounds of torque but 700 horsepower, and guess what... you're car's gonna be fast, so long as you keep it in that power range.

So hp means a LOT when it comes to acceleration and speed.

Quit stealing my lines, bish! http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/images/smilies/loser.gif



WHATEVERS DOGG!

well let me put in my 2 cents. hp really means nothing. hp is just a number that comes from the amount of work you can do with a given tq. like what carnutt said. hp = (tq*RPM)/5252. or 5250 depending on were you learned it from.


sorry i'm brain dead. i forgot to mention the second half of my discussion. because of the formula. when you look at every single tq and hp graph, the tq will always hit its peak down low and it will a lways cross with the hp line at exactly 5252, or 5250 ( depending on where you learned it from ). so what this means is that at the cross over point, that is when the hp takes over from where the tq left off.