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Old 04-13-2010, 08:05 PM   #16 (permalink)
Patrick
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Quote:
Originally Posted by comptiger5000 View Post
It will accelerate the hardest at its torque peak, where it's turning the driveshafts the hardest.
Are you sure? Since horsepower is a measure of work done per unit time, I think it's analogous to acceleration. You want the most work done per unit time to accelerate the vehicle as quickly as possible. If you had 500 ft-lbs of torque, but only 1 rpm at your disposal, the vehicle wouldn't accelerate very fast. 500 ft-lbs with 5000 rpm will get you moving. You need the combination of torque and speed (rpm), which equals horsepower, to get the acceleration. So the vehicle should accelerate the hardest at its horsepower peak (assuming you can keep the engine there while the vehicle accelerates). A CVT would be great. Or am I missing something?
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