Horsepower vs. Torque ?

[JustPassinThru_imp]

Look at any dyno graph and torque and hp always cross at 5250 rpm. Torque is twisting force - newton meters or lb ft, gets you off the line and pushes a lot of weight. HP describes how much work is done over a given period of time, or the rate which work is done, so speed. If I knew more about physics, I might be able to explain why the two cross paths at 5250 rpm. Maybe a trip through the googlesphere will help...

That's probably the best way of putting it.

A comparison might be this: Thirty years ago, in the dark ages of emission controls on old-school carburetors...some OHC fours, specifically Ford's fours, made more horsepower than their 1950s six-cylinder engines.

But that was deceptive, as anyone who'd driven both knows. Step on the gas with a six, even in those years, you could feel that thing lift you off, right from idle. Like a tractor when you pop the clutch.

With that 2.3 Four, it would whine "Who, ME?" You'd have to stand on it to get moving, and hold the flow of traffic. Yet in dynamometer tests, it showed more horsepower, not less, than the sixes.

Torque. Power applied in a twisting motion - just as with a "torque wrench." As opposed to horsepower, which is the power needed to lift a given quantity of water, one foot, at sea level.