What is Torque, whats the difference between that and HP?

[Kdubslugga]

Pretty much like the title says. I hang around a lot of cars guys Domestic and Import and it seems to me Import guys, who around here are mostly ricers, never talk about what there cars Torque is. Sometimes you ask they have no idea what it makes, but they sure know there horsepower ratings.What is it that makes torque?? How can you feel it over horsepower? I know torque by defintion is a twisting or bending measurment so im guessing its all in the launch but i could be wrong....

 

[wythors]

In the most simple terms: Torque is what gets the car moving. Horsepower is what keeps it moving.

 

[wythors]

The classic example of torque.

 

[tannerc91gt]

people with imports dont discuss their torque for the same reason they dont discuss their displacement...because they have very little.

torque is basically the amount of twisting force at work or "The measure of the force applied to an object to produce rotational motion, usually measured in foot-pounds."

torque is an actual action, if you will. horsepower is just a measurement, pretty much a number to compare really. horsepower is calculated using other measured values. Basically Carroll Shelby hit the nail on the head when he said "torque wins races, horsepower sells cars"

i think my favorite explaination has got to be "horsepower is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how far you take the wall with you". someone around here has this in their sig too i believe.

 

[Kdubslugga]

Those are 2 great qoutes...lol I love em!!

 

[foxmustangman]

See sig

 

[Shaolin Crane]

this is torque
YouTube - Ohio CAT Pulling Truck

 

[skunk21]

torque explained via the link I posted and one of the most important #'s but yet hardly talked about..HP is for bragging to you friends, torque wins races!

Torque vs. Horsepower - Engine Power Delivery Explained - Hot Rod Magazine

 

[cjrpony]

If I remember my high school physics class, and that was a long time ago, torque is the ability to do work, horsepower is how fast you can do it. So with the imports, they can do a whole lot of nothing, quickly.

 

[NIKwoaC]

If it were true that HP is only for bragging rights, IndyCars would be slow.

An IndyCar engine only makes about the same amount of torque that a H/C/I pushrod 5.0L makes, yet spins to more than 10,000RPM and makes in the neighborhood of 650HP. Do you think a H/C/I 5.0 would be able to power an IndyCar to over 220mph?

Look at it this way. You can compare torque to how heavy a box you can lift, with HP being how many of those boxes you can load onto a shelf in a minute. If you can lift an 80lb box and I can only lift a 60lb box, but I can load 10 boxes onto the shelf in a minute, whereas you can only do 6, then after a minute, I put 600lbs onto the shelf and you only put 480lbs onto the shelf. Who is faster?

So, power in it's simplest terms is the rate at which work is done. Horsepower is just the rate at which torque is applied to a rotating shaft.

HP=[(T)*(RPM)]/5252

 

[srtthis]

torque

horsepower
View attachment 216215

 

[Strype]

Horsepower is the amount of work it takes for a horse to move a cart so many feet, I forget how many feet. Torque is what the horse's hooves are doing against the ground... Leverage if you will.

 

[Kdubslugga]

Good stuff, guys, I finally get the difference now.

 

[foxmustangman]

Another way to look at it would be at two different drag strips. Torque is more short-run stuff (hence how it is further forward in your rpm range) and hp is long-run (it grows over the rpm range). I you had an 1/8th mile race. Torque would win easily. But if you had a mile long race it would be horsepower that would win the race.

 

[DrYeRLiNt]

Power = torque x rotational speed. A high revving engine doesn't typically have a lot of torque, but it makes up for it by being able to spin very very fast. Torque will get something moving from a dead stop VERY quickly, but horsepower deals more with top end power.

This is how bikes are able to be so quick with virtually no torque. They use small weight (which is important b/c I can't pick up a 2000 pound bike if I lay it down) by keeping the displacement very low, but make up for it with red lines over 15,000 rpms.

 

[rbonella]

like wythors said:
torque gets you there/ horsepower keeps you there

 

[Repostyle]

I always tell people "hp is speed, torque is how quickly you get to speed".