Which would you raise first?

 

torque...

 

hp

 

All depends on what your gonna do with the car...

 

Driving abilities..

 

Isn't torque part of the formula for calculating HP......

 

Yes... (tq x rpm) / 5252 = hp

 

Why do you ask?

 

the famous quote..

"horsepower sells cars, torque wins races"
- carroll shelby

 

another famous quote...

"torque is awesome!"

-cannysage, 2006-

 

Look at the formula. Horsepower is the mathematical product of torque times RPM. The only way to make more HP is to increase torque.

bill

 

+1 best gains are just by increasing but by increasing tq over a larger area. Look at it like this. HP is the amount of work the tq can do over a period or time. Therefor a car that has tq numbers that come up quickly and stay relatively flat across rpm range would be faster than car B who's tq is greater but more the shape of a spike. It is often referred to as area under the curve.

M

 

Just to add to the discussion.....

Peak torque is not what we are concerned with, sports cars aren't in a boat pulling contest. We are interested in making more torque at higher RPM, which of course = more horsepower.

Torque and horsepower are one in the same. One measurement factors in TIME(hp), the other does not(tq). TIME is what needs to be factored in if you are concerned with getting from point A to point B in a given amount of TIME. Caroll shelby is indeed a tool, (I don't like his cars either), and that quote of his is the sole reason why a LOT of people don't understand the difference between the two.

 

It depends, I wouldn't want a car with high hp but no torque, and I wouldn't want a car with high torque but low hp. I think after a certian amount of torque (enough to make the car suitable for daily driving) I'd rather have an increase in HP.

 

That's a good point jyoder.... it all depends on what you want to do...

 

Well, for me, my last car was all hp and little torque(celica). So now, I really like the torque+hp.

 

You can increase hp without increasing tq by increasing RPMs.

Drive on tq. race on hp. Do you want to drive at conservative rpm (<4k) or high rpm (>5K). Driven an RX8? You need torque at lower rpms if you want to go.

 

i'd rather have torque because my buddies dodge durango was stuck in the ditch once and i had to tow him out. i was lucky my Z has 274lbs/torque instead of the new 2006 260lbs torque...

i barely towed him out, if i would of had an 06 instead of 05 Z, he would probably still be stuck in that ditch.

after i towed him out, we did a few high way runs, all of which i beat him. gogo 287horse power to the crank!

 

Nope.

Peak HP occurs at the point where the torque curve falls faster than RPM rises. (That's why its "peak" HP!) You can continue to rev past the HP peak, but the farther you rev, the faster HP falls.

The '06 Z makes it 300 peak at 6400, then the curve starts falling off. More revs cannot make more HP unless you increase the torque at 6400 and above.

You can rev on up to the limiter (approx 7000), but the HP is falling once you pass 6400.

bill

 

So there's no gain by going from 6400-7000 RPM? Do people just do it so when they shift they'll be in the best RPM range in the next gear?
What was the peak RPM for HP and TQ for the 03-05s?