Experts: What power comparison is better in drag racing?

Question

Hp to weight ratio?
-or-
Torque to weight ratio?

I raced a vehicle the same mass as mine, he had 235 pounds of torque, but 170 Hp, while on the other hand, I had only 188 pounds of torque with 190 Hp and his vehicle smoked mine.

I can do 120 mph and he can only do 80. Thats the catch. Which comparision do I use to compare the power to weight ratio? Mine beat his for the first sec, then he swiftly passed me and kept going. We are both automatics.

Please don't go into gearing, we were in our 2-3 gears (on drive) and he is the quicker one. It had something to do with torque. Thanks.

Answer 1

You want a better horsepower to weight ratio. Torque is good to get a holeshot, but if you lack horsepower you will just fade away. Torque usually kicks in between idle and 2000 RPM, so basically once out of first, torque is useless. Horsepower, on the other hand usually kicks in at around 3000 to 6000 RPM, and since your shifting gears just about at redline, you stay in the horsepower curve the entire time. Ideally, you want both torque and horsepower, and usually torque will be the bigger of the two, but not always. It sounds like he just has a better setup, he has alot of torque to get the holeshot, and enough horsepower to keep ahead of you although you gain speed because you have more horses, if you have a conical air filter, it will affect the low end torque of your car, in effect you lose it. But it will provide more high RPM horses. And really, you may want to see if he has a cheater NOS system, or a stall converter. But having 47 more foot/pounds, he should be able to smoke you from 0-60 foot and 1/8, then since your horses are almost the same, your 20 more horses just ain't enough to make up for the lack of torque. If you had 235 horses, then you could probably take him. In effect, I have an Excursion, with a Triton V-10, and I kinda street raced a diesel Excursion, I have approx. 325 horses and I am not sure of the torque, but it is prolly somewhere around 300 to 350. The diesel has like 470 foot/lb, and 300 horses, anyway, we left the light and I took the holeshot, once his turbo spooled up, he blasted by me like nothing, but once we hit around 45 to 50 MPH, I pulled away from him. So you can see, the horsepower and torque combined let me take the holeshot, but as engine speed increases, his torque kicks in, while I am in between max torque and horsepower, so he began to pull away... FAST!!!! but then as engine speed increases more, his leaves his torque curve and since I had more ponies, I pulled from him. But, to answer your question, you want a good H/P to weight ratio...

Answer 2

Other variables aside, the winner is who has the most power for the longest amount of time through the power band, or the average HP and TQ.

A 800 whp Toyota Supra will often loose to a 500-600 whp supercharged V8 b/c even though the Supra has much more power, it is not making that power until over a certain RPM, so while the Toyota is revving trying to build boost the V8 is all ready making its max power, gaining distance the toyota will not be able to make up with its shot of HP at the top.

In your case, i would look into why he can only do 80 mph as that sounds a lot like he's running a high ratio differential. Most cars can do over 80 mph stock. The fact that your both in your 2nd and 3rd gears has not a thing to do with it. First of all his 2nd and 3rd may be shorter than yours. Also, if hes got a 4.30 LSD (again nothing to do with the transmition) and your running a stock highway differential set of say 2.90 he will LEAVE you but not have a high top speed.

Many other factors are your cars real HP at the wheels, traction, heat, driver, etc.

Give us some more info.

My opinion to answer your question as is would by TQ to weight. My reason is that TQ gets your weight moving, and from a standing start race thats what you need.

Answer 3

Normally, power to weight ratio is more useful. It's possible to calculate power to weight ratio based on a car's speed in a quarter mile, but there is absolutely no way you can calculate the torque to weight ratio from any timing measurements at the dragstrip.

However, there's another key measurement - the average power through the RPM range that the car uses while drag racing. An engine that makes a lot of power at just one RPM and has the power fall off rapidly may not be quite as fast as one with a wider powerband just because it can't always use that peak horsepower.

I don't know how far your race was, but often who gets off the line faster depends on a lot of drivetrain variables including gearing.

Answer 4

The vehicle with torque and traction will get off the line quicker. At the end of the run horsepower is what counts. Keep in mind that getting off the line quicker is also the drivers reaction time. Torque can help make up for a slow reaction time.

Answer 5

Hi,
Find out what your and the other guys rear end differential gears are. The steeper the gears are the quicker a car is off the line but slower on top end. You said you beat him off the line, he probably broke traction on take off then hooked up and passed you.Torque is where all the action is everyone likes to quote high HP numbers but But Steep gears 5.11 to 1 or 4.11 to 1 and TORQUE humble many a novice street racer. of-course gas mileage goes right down the drain.
I have a bbc Chevelle with 2.56 to 1 rear end gears it is a driver not a racer these gears keep the RPM low to improve mileage and reduce wear on the engine. I hope this may

Answer 6

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