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torque or horsepower



  182 cup
Which is preferred torque or horsepower, can you have relatively low horsepower but high torque figures or vice versa.


Please be considerate with your answers as I’m felling very delicate at the minute.
 
  BMW M4; S1000 RR
You'll get low hp and high torque figures from an engine that doesn't rev very high like a diesel engine.

Vise versa you'll get high hp compared to the torque figure with an engine that revs very high, like a bike engine.
 
  2005 Nissan Navara
You can go to so many levels with something like this!
Power is rate of work done, torque is the ammount of work done. So the logical answer is "theres a comprimise".
Torque provides basically forward motion, more of it results in higher acceleration.

The best analogy is a diesel versus petrol powered cars. Typically a diesel has high torque and lower power output, and pterol vice versa. With the diesel you get a good initial surge of acceleration, but this drops off when you hit say 4000rpm. With the petrol engined car you have less initial burst of acceleration, but its carries on pulling for longer. This is a good practical example.

Its also possible to have both. the most common method/example is a turbocharged petrol engine. They typically make very good torque spread with high peak power figures. The down side of this is tractability, and how useable it actually is. As with most principles, theres a large pay-off at a certain point.

In terms of engine development, the large part is getting the torque curve to suit the intended usage. This is the decided in having a usable engine, which results in a quick car, or an engine with impressive peak horsepower, but has such a small torque band, that its a dog to drive and ultimately slow. This is another subject really though.
 
HP is a derived figure from torque to get high horsepower you require an engine which makes high torque figures at high RPM.

I believe the equation is torque x RPM / 5252 = HP (been a while since i read up on all this though!)
 

Martin_172

ClioSport Club Member
not just how much torque you have but when you get it, my dci has around 120lb/ft odd (or there abouts?) really low down and its brilliant around town but yet my 172 with 150lb/ft+ mid range isnt as usefull around town just to cruise about with.
 
some very good informative advice there i got to say lads! allthough id prefer the torque to be matched to the peak bhp to get a good start and enugh pulling power to keep delivering the go go juice to win
 
  182
as alot of clued up tuners will point out on here, its not all about chasing peak BHP numbers to brag about down the pub, its about how usefull that power is and having a good spread. no point in at clio that makes 220bhp but only does so at 7500rpm and does nothing beforehand (okay thats an exaggeration but you get my drift)

for example my cammed 172 actaully makes less torque than standard below 4000 rpm, but maintains its power to 7800rpm unlike the standard car which tails off after 6500, quite rapidly.
 
bhp... how fast you hit the wall.

torque... how hard u hit it and carry it :)

thats how i look at it.

my doll is down on bhp at the moment due to an exhaust issue, yet she still runs 313+ ft lb torque so its not too much of a biggy...

im no tuner and id prefer both but you can survive with one :)
 
  PH1 172 Sport
Power and torque are related to one another anyway.

Power(kW) = 2 x pi x engine speed(rev/s) x torque(Nm)

The best thing for these engines is having useable torque and power. They desperately need some low down torque for everyday driving.
 
  2005 Nissan Navara
P=(2*Pi*N/60)*T
You should be dividing the 2*Pi*N by 60, as this is getting from RPM into angular velocity.
Its essentially the same: Power= Torque x Speed
 
  RS RIP
i got both.. :approve: top lines torque, bottom HP at the wheels

Scannen0004.jpg
 


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