Read a few comparison tests of late where the bum in seat experience contradicts the claimed power, and even sometimes torque, because of the way it's delivered. Which is seen in curves I guess. Some of these latest small capacity clever turbo engines are getting big praise for sheer drivability.
mals69,
Dec 15, 4:39am
Read the link cheers
"Torque wins races , Horsepower for sales brochures"
mrfxit,
Dec 15, 5:20am
Lots of torque, gives an engine the ability to not give a damn about what gears are being used or how steep a hill is.
sw20,
Dec 15, 5:33am
I had first hand experience of this with my RX-8 vs my first SW20 turbo. Both stock standard cars on pump fuel at the drag strip.
sw20 would run 14.3 @ 98mph, and I was a pretty novice drag racer, with more seat time I'm sure I could have scraped into the 13s. The RX-8, even though it has a claimed 231hp, a full 10hp more than the sw20, it was a full second and 9mph slower than it. The RX-8 has to make do with a paltry 215nm and has to wait until 5500rpm until it makes that, whereas the sw20 has over 300nm by 3200rpm and stays there till 6000rpm.
bill-robinson,
Dec 15, 6:10am
and the weight of both cars was?
budgel,
Dec 15, 6:27am
Approximately 5825lbs according to Google.
You didnt ask for the weight of each car, but The Mazda is listed as 3065lbs kerb weight, and the SW20 2758lbs.
barrylarry,
Dec 15, 6:40am
not an oldie by any means, but i remember watching those old videos of steam tractors or old hit-and-miss engines. they were around 20hp but had a gigantic flywheel. had so much torque, could move a hundred ton load
mals69,
Dec 15, 7:19am
Yeah to right, gets the birds smiling too.
sr2,
Dec 15, 7:34am
+1, I hear you loud and clear mate.
An 8 year old article written by a journalist with a great shot of an HQ Holden? No mention of car weights, transmission ratio's, number of gearbox ratio's, final drive ratios and what the car's will be used for. (I wish it was so easy!).
sr2,
Dec 15, 7:45am
Julian Edgar, 52, started his working life freelancing for photography magazines. He then worked as a secondary school teacher for eight years before leaving teaching and becoming a full-time technical writer.
He edited a national Australian automotive print magazine before becoming editor of AutoSpeed, an online car magazine. Along the way he wrote extensively for Silicon Chip, an electronics hobbyist magazine, while also contributing articles to publications in Australia, the UK and the US.
He has also worked at Executive Level in the Australian Public Service.
His formal qualifications include a Diploma in Teaching (Secondary), Bachelor of Education and Graduate Diploma in Journalism.
He currently works for training company Communication Knowhow, where he develops and facilitates courses in high level writing. Clients include government and major private companies.
(I rest my case!)
brapbrap8,
Dec 15, 7:52am
I have driven the entire Audi range in one day, including all their fancy turbo petrol and diesel engines and although the petrols are mostly faster and more KW on paper, for sheer in gear thrust from normal driving speeds the diesels are absolutely unbeatable. Low down torque is what makes the biggest difference in a road car, I see Mazdas new models are less powerful than the older ones, but the power is all much lower in the range so the testers actually say they feel a lot faster.
melonhead1,
Dec 15, 8:38am
I want a car with buckets of low down torque. I'm a road user, not a racing car driver.
sr2,
Dec 15, 9:33am
Boring, boring, boring! Why not the best of both worlds? Beg, borrow or steal a ride in an AMG E63. It comes off the line like a big block but when you plant it to pull out to pass it pulls the rev's and HP that makes your average petrolhead go weak at the knees!
Edited to say it sounds so, so, sweet!
bill-robinson,
Dec 15, 6:47pm
i play with race cars and i want torque as well. better acceleration HP is a calculation, torque is work
timmo1,
Dec 15, 7:33pm
Identical cars, same engines- one being tuned for torque, one being tuned for power. Which wins the drag race?
melonhead1,
Dec 15, 8:27pm
Fair points sr2 and bill-robinson. I don't mind boring though as I'm a boring person so its a neat fit.
mals69,
Dec 15, 9:12pm
Torque
melonhead1,
Dec 15, 9:21pm
It would depend upon the length of said drag race. Torque will win a short race while power will win a long race.
sr2,
Dec 15, 9:32pm
It's a nonsensical question, it makes as much sense as asking which has the most power, amps or kilowatts? LOL; did any of you guys listen in your 5th form physics classes!
bill-robinson,
Dec 15, 11:35pm
the driver with the best reaction time
mals69,
Dec 15, 11:42pm
Presuming it a 1/4 mile and not a tractor engine a vehicle with large torque will beat a vehicle with little torque but high HP - time high HP vehicle gets its revs up high torque vehicle gone, (vehicles of same weight and gearing) ?
budgel,
Dec 15, 11:50pm
Horsepower is best understood as the rate at which the torque is produced.
You could have, say, 550 ftlbs of torque which is the equivalent of a lever one foot long with 550 lbs on it. To lift that weight one foot in one second takes one horsepower. To lift it in half a second would take two horsepower, and so on.
sr2,
Dec 16, 6:00am
Most cars come off the line bouncing off the rev limiter? (I'm not sure why you associate high hp with high rpm?).
elect70,
Jun 6, 2:30am
As in the TG run between the Veyron & the Mclaren , initially Mclaren was well ahead but the veyron eventually over took it .
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