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0-60 with torque vs 0-60 with horsepower?

Ok. this is hard to explain but i will try my best.

A car driven to 60mph in two different ways. And driven from 60-80 lets say as well in two different ways. Im not very accurate with figures so bare with me here. Its just examples.

Say a car revs to 7000rpm, Top bhp is 250bhp at 7000rpm,

Top torque is around lets say 215ft/lb at 5500rpm and goes down to 190ft/lb at 7000rpm and anything below 5500rpm reduces as well, say 200ft/lb to 190 and so on

Bearing in mind that 5500rpm could yield around 200bhp. A lot less than the top 250bhp.

My question is using the above as an example. of bhp and torque curve is that

If sprinting to 60 (by redlining usually) is it better than using the torque band, reving to 5500 where top torque is.,now obviously you would have to rev slightly above it to keep the revs in the torque band , so reving to around 6000 before changing up. But also having lower bhp say around 220 instead of the 250bhp at 7000,. Would this be an advantage or disadvange to do this. Or would redlining to top bhp compensate/equilize the loss of torque at top revs so being the same in terms of acceleration .

What is the relationship between these to methods (redling and rev to top torque) in terms of acceleration. Which is better.

That example was from 0-60. Lets say using the same example but now form 60mph to 80mph. Id imagine that torque has a much bigger roll here. (does it?) as at higher gears more torque would be needed to accelerate the faster moving wheels and counteract wind resistance. Therefore would using the torque band here be more beneficial. Or just redling like before to get best bhp. Is top bhp better than top torque in terms of accelaration.

Again what is the relationship between these to methods for accelaration from 60mph to 80mph (redling and rev to top torque) in terms of acceleration. Which is better.

Hope I explained this ok .

2 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    10 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    You'll get the fastest 0-60 mph time if you pull gears to the point where MAX hp is produced. In your example, it would be 7000 rpm. High rpm gives you the time to delay gear changes. If you keep the revs in the MAX torque band, you are not utilizing your engine's full potential because MAX hp is produced at 7000 rpm, not 5500.

    Also, changing gears in the torque curve will reduce your acceleration time because the MAX torque point is way below the redline. That is called short shifting.

    Starting from a roll, for example 60 mph would be a different story. Yes, you are right, the vehicle with more torque would accelerate quicker. Horsepower comes in the game when the final gear is selected thus, determining the top speed of the car.

    REMEMBER: The higher the car revs, the higher the hp would be.

    Source(s): I hope I answered your question
  • Anonymous
    10 years ago

    you should know by now horsepower beats torque, unless you use Nitrous Oxide in the car.

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