Grendel, you seem to have hit the nail on the head.. I don't mind stressing my engine (in fact the only way to get decent performance out of my car is to wind it up to 7000rpm in every gear cos it doesn't really wake up 'til 5000) and I don't mind wasting petrol. I wanna go fast. Which makes me wanna ask another question but I'll leave that for now..

FYRHWK1's answer pretty much confirms what I thought. You don't wanna change 'til the imaginary line drawn across your power curve (or some clever amalgamation of power and torque in one curve if thats possible ) would be horizontal..

I will arm myself with this information and go get that beer they owe me now..

Cheers guys..