Understanding Torque

[olddog]

"A flat torque curve will have very poor average power as the power is always climbing rapidly with RPM (or falling rapidly with a loss of RPM)."

Originally Posted by patrickt

Great quote -- and contrary to what you see bragged about in a lot of forums.

I haven't the time to read the article right now, but that quote, taken out of context, is just about the most asinine statement I have ever read. I certainly hope it makes sense in the context of the article.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by olddog

I haven't the time to read the article right now, but that quote, taken out of context, is just about the most asinine statement I have ever read. I certainly hope it makes sense in the context of the article.

Well, please read the entire article, think about that particular quote, and then report back.

[Luce]

Yep. The bone head "hot rodder" who couln't make it past the first quiz in Physics 101 who says HP doesn't matter, it's torque doesn't understand what a transmission does.

With a 100:1 worm gear reduction, I can get 600 ft-lbs of torque from a Briggs. How will it do in a Cobra compared to a 550 ft-lb 427W? My money is on the 540 HP Windsor, not the 8 HP Briggs.

One other nice addition to the graph would have been a limit line on the rear axle torque representing where you'll have tire spin limiting acceleration in first gear (and second and third in many cases)

Good article. Thanks for posting.