alright, to most of you, i know you'll look down on me for asking what you would consider a newbie questions, but to me it isn't.

so, what is horsepower and torque? even after being active in the tuning scene for about three years, i have still never found a true and simple definition for the two terms.

from what i can gather myself from reading and physics, torque is the force applied on a radius, so it is how much force is making something turn, right? then where the **** does horsepower come from?

sure i know how to use the numbers to rate a car and such, but that doesn't really answer my real questions.

so what does it mean when people say a car feels more torquey when they drive it, what are they feeling? because to me, a car is just accelerating fast or not. please explain all you greatly knowledgable people on hcf

thankz for taking time to look through my questions

 

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/horsepower.htm
I love howstuffworks

 

Hp is actually a funtion of torque. It's an arbitrary number.

Tq x rpm
----------- = Horsepower
5252

When someone says a car feels "torquey," they probably mean responsive, or the torque curve beinglower in the rpms. Or they could have no idea what hey are talking about.

 

in layman terms...
torque = acceleration capabilities
hp=top speed

 

then shouldn't torque be way more important than horsepower. why do people put horsepower first and torque second if they state the torque at all??

 

Automotive Torque is a force around a radius.Horsepower is basically how fast/quickly it is applied. Equate torque to brute strength (max legpress or hold), and HP to explosive strength (Bruce Lee's kick, Spud Webb's jump,or a sprinter's top sustainable speed).

Look at a 4.2L JeepI6 motor. It's rated for like 120HP and over 200lb/ft at the crank in stock form. It can yank a tree stump out of the ground at just above idle but even in 1st it accelerates like a tractor, whether it's in a lightweight CJ5 on stock 30" tires or a heavy fullsize Cherokee on 33s.

Compare that to a new Civic Si sedan DOHCVTEC motor that puts out like 200HP andaround 140lb/ft of torque at the crank. It won't easily pull a stump at just over idle, but it accelerates better than even the similar-weight CJ5 unless you really load it down. It also happily runs the car athigher speeds.

Compare both of those to a 4.0L I6 Jeep TJ that's rated for around 190HP and 230lb/ft. It moves the 4000lb Jeep 0-60 in under 10 seconds, can still pull a stump out of the ground at just over idle, and manages to power the brick-shaped Jeep to over 100MPH. It will happily idle the heavy Jeep over axle-high rocks or spin mudders fast enough to clear the treads with just a blip of the throttle.

Torque is for if you want to move something without bogging the engine. HP is for if you want toaccelerate it quickly. This is why a low-torque/high-HPmotor is affected more by added weight in a car and a high-torque/low-HP carwon'tpass as wellon a 2-lane.

 

umm...not really.

A low torque machine can still accelerate fine if used at higher rpm's. Since they have an inverse relationship, they can compensate for eachother, based on gearing and the like. So a low torque, high hp car would need pretty short gearing to keep rpm's high to compensate.

 

What the hell is Torque and Horsepower?[8D]

 

i've always thought the more equal hp and torque were..the more powerful and fast the vehicle is. a lot of civics have great hp for such tiny cars but their torque is pretty low so at first when u accelerate it's pretty weak but later on the civic will catch up depending on which car ur racing.

 

thankz kommando, that taught me a lot