i always get horsepower, and torque mixed up in my head. i have a hard time understanding the difference between the two. which car would win in a 1/4 mile race. a car with 300hp and 400 torque, or a car with 400 hp and 300 torque??? to me, it seems like the car with more torque would win in the 1/4 and then the car with more hp would start to walk away after the 1/4

 

correct the car with more torque will get out of the hole much faster and the car with more HP will close the gap on the top end. What will win in a 1/4 mile depends on the car but you have the right idea

 

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I've been down this road. If you build a motor to produce horsepower, the torque numbers go up as well. Then we get into the stroker debate, and then the blowers or nitrous. Bottom line is when a motor flows, it goes. Anything more you add is increased by a good bottom line.
This means an engine with big heads, big valves, big intake, and big exhaust will perform better as a bottom line. Adding boost of any means will be amplified by the strong bottom, but compression and boost is not advised.

 

horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and torque is how far you bring the wall with you

 

Horsepower is a function of torque. Torque and rpm produce hp, or to put it another way, horsepower is a way of measuring torque used over time. horsepower = (torque at X rpm * X rpm)/5252. Producing more torque, produces more hp, more top end hp comes from producing more torque at higher rpm. Unfortunately engines are not ideal machines, nor are they efficient, and as a general rule, what creates more torque at higher rpm, produces less torque at lower rpm and vice versa. Street engines try to achieve a balance. Ultimately, how fast a car goes will depend on the torque curve, peak hp, gearing, weight, traction etc etc. A high peakhp car with crap bottom end torque but a crapload of gearing will be faster than a heavy car with more bottom end torque and poor gearing. That's why you always hear the term about performance is a package, everything has to work together