BHP / Torque

[_williams_]

i've just been reading how some mods will increase BHP but reduce torque, i was just wondering in simple terms what difference this will make to the drive of the car? anyone care to explain?!

[AXracing]

When most people talk about BHP they are talking the maximum amount of power the engine can produce. This very basically speaking and I did say very basically is what makes your car go faster. So all being equal the more BHP the faster your car accelerated and the faster the top speed. That is if all is equal.

When people talk about Torque they tend to just be talking about the maximum pulling power per rotation of the engines crank. This has no real relevance on how a car perforce. Generally you will only be doodling about if your that low in the rev range.

Most modification will not massively reduce torque. If they do you are doing something wrong. Some do move the torque curve further up the rev range and so can slightly reduce it further down. This is no problem though. You will just start changing up gear a bit later and change down that bit earlier

If we start talking about full race engines you do end up with very peaky engines so these cars have to use a close ratio gear set to let the engine do its thing. That is rev

[blacksax1]

http://www.thor-racing.co.uk/Torque_and_BHP_-86.asp

read this, its very good and explains all about torque and stuff. i always thought that the more torque you had the better your car would move from standstill and in motion as torque is the driving force afterall. bhp is calculated from the torque figure.