The short answer to this question is “Yes” you want more of both actually when you’re looking for a vehicle that can be driven and perform faster for you. The argument of choosing more of one or the other has been going on for many years and the reality is there is no reason for us to argue or try and choose one over the other. As we move toward vehicles that have different engines and setups, the fact is you won’t have more horsepower unless you have more torque for the drive.
What is Torque?
Torque is a rotating force produced by the engine’s crankshaft. The more torque than an engine produced the greater its ability to complete work. The measurement of torque is the same as work but only a little different because torque is a force that acts in a specific direction and is quantified by lb.-ft. In an engine, torque is found using a dyno, which is also used to measure horsepower, and the torque is a unit of force that can be transformed into the power you’re looking for when you want to travel at speeds.
What is Horsepower?
The use of horsepower as a measurement of what we expect in an engine was defined by James Watt in the Eighteenth-century as the power required to lift 33,000 pounds exactly one foot in one minute. The mathematical way to find horsepower is to multiply torque by rpm and then divide it by the constant of 5252. What this tells you is that you need torque to create horsepower but you can’t go in the other direction. In order to produce more horsepower, an engine needs both more torque and a higher rpm to operate at before the redline.
The Challenge
When you take a look at when torque and horsepower reach their peak, many times you’re going to see a difference between the rpm numbers that reach these top power outputs. For example, the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat that uses a 6.2-liter supercharged V8 engine to produce 707 horsepower and 650 lb.-ft. of torque reaches the maximum horsepower at 6000 rpm but the maximum torque at 4000 rpm. Once the rpm reaches over the 6000 level the horsepower begins to drop downward. As you perform the math, it becomes obvious that the power equation for horsepower doesn’t pan out with this example, but that’s because of other factors that are in play.
Basically, you want to have more of both numbers when you’re looking at a higher performing engine. Automakers have worked to build engines that make use of direct injection, better airflow and other technology to ensure more power can be pulled from the engines we see on the market. If you’re looking for more horsepower you have to produce more torque but horsepower is still the measure of what we know as the result of the equation and the work that’s completed under the hood, giving us what we need.
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