[Mr.Fixit]

Torque is what pushes the car, spins the tires, shoves you into your seat, snaps your neck back, etc. HP is a function of he application of torque over a given time. You can have a high torque, low speed (thus low HP) motor, or the complete opposite. A motor with very low torque, but the ability to provide that torque at very high rpms and thus have more HP because they are pushing less hard but going a greater distance. James Watt determined that a horse could do a certain amount of work in a day, which is equal to 550 ft/lbs/sec. So you could move 550 pounds one foot per second, or one pound 550 ft per second and still be doing the same amount of work. Like on a ten speed bicycle, you can put it in an easy gear and pedal really fast with little force, or put in a hard gear and pedal really slowly with lots of force. Getting the same amount of work done both ways.