ok I need some help here...?

Question

Im new to racing (and I really like it!), but theres things I dont get. What's torque and does a car with more torque pass other cars easier? And can someone explain to me what a gear ratio is?

Answer 1

1). Torque: Technically speaking, torque may be defined as the “potential” to do work. Grab the knob of a locked door, apply a twisting force, and the knob doesn’t turn.

This is torque. Upon unlocking, the knob will turn under force of the torque applied, time enters the picture and horsepower can be measured (torque acting over a period of time: pounds-feet/second or pounds-feet/minute). Stated another way, torque is the ability of a system (engine) to perform work. Horsepower is the rate of doing work.

Torque accelerates a race car (the rate of change in torque); horsepower makes it fast (the ability to sustain specific levels of torque). Many engine builders (Winston Cup and Saturday night alike) prefer building engines keyed on the production of torque.

An important ingredient in understanding the concept of torque is an engine’s ability to produce torque over a specific range of rpm at a rapid rate. Some call this “transient” torque or the rate at which an engine will accelerate under load through a range of rpm. Generally speaking, the higher the torque output of a given engine, the quicker it will accelerate under load. This is because its “potential” for rpm increase is linked to total torque output.

2). Gear Ratio: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear_ratio

Answer 2

OK, basically a car with more torque will pass other cars easier.

The lower down in the rev range that the torque comes in the earlier the car will pick up speed. More torque coming out of corners means earlier accelleration.

Torque is grunt.

Gear ratio is the number of teeth on a cog. Big cog (low ratio) allows the car to be moved at low speed, then the cog get progressively smaller (higher ratio) as the speed increases......match gear to road speed.

These 2 answers are very simplified to give an idea what's happening, not to give an engineer a laugh!!

Answer 3

Here ill make it simple...
Torque: Is power down low, imagine trying to do a wheelie in the top gear of your mouintain bike, nearly imposible right? But if you put it in a lower gear you get more TORQUE thus you speed up faster lifting the front wheel off the ground.
Gear Ratio: Gear ratio is a fraction explaning the gear sizes, the gear ratio 5:12 means the smaller gear has to go around 2.4 times before the bigger gear will make a full revolution.

Hope that helps!

Answer 4

im going to try and give the simple answer, horse power is how fast it can go, and troque is how much weight it can move
gear ratio is how it is its is put to the road.....now for the examples

ferrari f1 car 750 hp lots of torque
f/a-18 fighter jet, 40,000 plus hp almost no torque

when they race the ferrari leaves the jet in the dust off the line
because of high torque, at the half way point the jet is rolling but the ferrari is almost twice as far down the runway,
but by the finish line the jet beats the ferrari by a few feet the ferrari is maxed out because its now using all 750 horse power doing about 212 mph, the jet is doing 320 mph and just getting started (its top speed is around 1300 - 1400 mph)

this is a great example of horse power vs torque

as for gearing......you can gear for power at one end and speed in the other, use the dodge viper srt-10 engin,
in the viper its geared for speed and acts like a race car, in the srt-10 ram pick up truck its geared for towing and cant beat the viper in a race but in a tug-of-war the truck will drag the viper across the parking lot, some of this is due to weight but most of it is due to gearing

the extreme example is the tractor trailer trucks, no car on the road , not the bugati not the viper nor mclaren f1 ot audi r10 has as much power or torque as a big Mac truck, but its geared for towing (power) it will loose in a race to mini cooper with less than a tenth of its power and torque, but the truck will pull 10 minis up a moutain on its back, that is all about gearing


sorry i ment to keep it simple, i hate long answers too

Answer 5

Torque, in the technical sense is twisting force, which translates out to horsepower within the engine . . . if you refer to NASCAR, most of the cars are evenly matched, it usually depends on how skilled the driver is, as for gear ratio, that usually defines when the transmission shifts from one gear, into the next.

Answer 6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gear_ratio... This information sight is a sight that has been /or can be/ modified by anyone on the web so take what you read with a grain of salt. It may not be true. For the correct answer to your question go to a sight like Ask.com or E-Mail one of the TV announcers during a race to ask the question, they might explain it via the demo car they use to explain given questions.