[Matt]

Originally Posted by arakis

!@#!#!#!@$!$! I am realy ****ed right now, listen! take my, and about a 100 people with degrees in phisics and mechanical engeneering. Max HP is the figre to watch for top speed,

power stays consistant trough gearing, (only minimal gearing efficiancy losses)

torque gets converted trugh gearing, the big sprocket small sprocket thing.

torque and force are not the same!!! torque is Nm force is N,

torque aplyies to axels, force aplyes to the liner motion!

maximum HP, means that at that rpm the proportion of rpms and torques is highest!!!!

the proof:::::::it gets scientific here:::welll as far as i can after a sixpack:::::
for a car to accel. from 100km it has to have its engine conected to its tyres trough gearing.
lets calculate this for a ferrari 430 scuderia it has 375Nm at 8750RPM(maxHP mark), and 470Nm at 5000rpm(gighest torque),
if the wheels are 50cm in diametar the circufrence is ~1.57m
100kmh is 1.66km per min, that means the wheel makes around 1061 rpm at 100kmh.

now for the test part
there are two gears, one is setup so that at 100kmh the engine is at the highst torque mark, and the other at the highest power mark, lets see witch dlivers more force to the wheels!

the ratio for the first is 1:5 mening the torque is 5 times greater at the driveshaft(wheels) then at the cranckshaft and it is 2350Nm (engine is spining at 5000rpm, the wheels at 1000rpm)

the second gearing is 1:8.750 meaning the torque is 8.75 times greater then at the max hp mark and it is.........

.....
...
... wait for it.....
....
.

3281Nm Engine is spining at 8750 rpm and the wheels at 1000rpm

the actual force at the tarmac is 820N in the second case, and 587N in the first

witch is 40%more, witch means that the car always has more torque at the wheels when it its at its max hp mark at the same speed that is!!! and thats why you down shift when overtaking people on the high way1!!!

proof 2

corvette gt2 car has similar power as the porsche rsr~470hp +-10hp

while the corvette has >700Nm of torque the porsche has only 450Nm
and guess what their top speed is equal to a few kmh!! at le Mans

Without wind resistance, you could get a car with 10hp to 200mph with the correct gearing.