Does HorsePower matter?

[drftk1d]

Originally Posted by AWP9521

My son works at a Dodge Garage that also services Mazda's from a sister dealership, his opinion of the RX-8, "Fast car once it gets underway but has no torque down low to move it off the line without reving it up real good to launch it."

DUH!

seriously guys, my car has no torque. i can barely get up hills in 2nd gear.

[Skyline_R32_Canada]

Originally Posted by rice(er)

eh....typical cars similiar to his, like celicas, prelude, civics, crx, eclipse, other integras.....typical asian imports, he's not that good, its just his car is weird and somehow gets a really good launch, other than that, his car is a piece of you know what, heheh....he lost to an evo one time, usually he doesn't fare well against those other cars that has twice his horsepower

you're a fag

[Muscletang]

I guess it all depends on what you do. Gearing though plays a very big role that many people don't consider very much.

I could rig my Mustang up to beat a Ferrari Enzo or a Mclaren F1 off the line for under a grand if I wanted to. If I just put a really high stall converter and 5.73 gears in the thing and I could. The problem is I couldn't get the thing to go over 60 mph.

If you look at the Viper it has a tall gears in it, 3.08s. It's still able to get good 0-60 and 1/4 mile times because it has tons of torque to overcome those tall gears. Once the engine revs up its horsepower is able to take over and take it to very high speeds because of the tall gears.

I heard about this in a 5.0 magazine. They talked about the difference between the Supra and the 5.0. A 5.0's torque is it's main weapon and it's easy to make them 9 second monsters.
A Supra deals more in horsepower and do better to race starting at 60 going down the highway.
If you watch many videos you'll see 5.0's spank Supras off the line and get a few cars ahead of them. Once they get around 120 though their torque is gone and their horsepower is little to nothing and the Supra just rockets past them.

It comes down though to what kind of racing and performance you like and do. If you like to top out on the highway then horsepower does matter. If you're doing stop light to stop light drags then you better getting a torque machine.
The big thing to also consider though is gearing. Gears play a big part in horsepower or torque.

[drftk1d]

good answer good answer

[youngvr4]

Originally Posted by rice(er)

eh....typical cars similiar to his, like celicas, prelude, civics, crx, eclipse, other integras.....typical asian imports, he's not that good, its just his car is weird and somehow gets a really good launch, other than that, his car is a piece of you know what, heheh....he lost to an evo one time, usually he doesn't fare well against those other cars that has twice his horsepower

burntrice all over again

[youngvr4]

Originally Posted by Muscletang

I guess it all depends on what you do. Gearing though plays a very big role that many people don't consider very much.

i second that

some of the 3gkt guys have put on gto mr gears, wich are just shorter gears and they broke into the 12's
with the norm gears its more like 13.4

my buddy who use to have a buick gs. he had a little over 400hp and over 500lbs tq, he couldnt catch traction for nothin
on the roll he was mean, but by the feel of things, i was faster then him at high speeds because

1 i'm more aerodynamic(another factor people dont take into consideration)

2. my rediculous tall gears.

[xXxRocker5150]

Originally Posted by Skyline_R32_Canada

you're a fag

Nice call.

[nissanfanatic]

Originally Posted by AWP9521

My son works at a Dodge Garage that also services Mazda's from a sister dealership, his opinion of the RX-8, "Fast car once it gets underway but has no torque down low to move it off the line without reving it up real good to launch it."

Which is why its "fast". You're thinking of "quick".