So torque is like horsepower per second???
NO NO NO!!!!
Torque is just a twist. It is just like a stretched rubber band. You can stretch a rubber band between two pegs, and it stays stretched, but is isn't DOING anything - no WORK is being done..
Imagine a well. There's a bucket full or water at the bottom.
You take the handle and apply force, but NOT QUITE enough to turn it, so the bucket stays put. If you hold the force (the torque) on, you are doing NO WORK. Now, if you apply MORE TORQUE to the handle, the bucket will start to rise. NOW, you are doing work, and all the time the bucket is rising you are applying TORQUE to the ROTATING well winding drum. That is just like the engine applying torque to the rotating propshaft as you drive along.
Then why can a high horsepower engine have low torque and vice versa if they are not proportionate or related???
It CANNOT! So that's a good question.
BUT, if the engine peaks its power at say 8,000 rpm, you may find that at anything under 4,000 revs it would hardly pull you out of bed. Many competition engines are like that - gutless at slow speeds. What we need in our Landies is a flat power curve, with heaps of sheer torque at low revs, though the torque will still rise to a peak at about half the engine's rated max revs in most cases.
This sounds familiar - might have to get the bottle out to continue this to a the end!!!
There is an direct relationship between torque and power.
Power is the engine's "strength", its ability to apply FORCE (torque in this case) to a moving body (the rotating prop shaft) so that WORK can be done, like propelling your Landy up a hill.
CharlesY
