Difference between torque and bhp

[QWERTY4]

Here's a challenge for those in the know. Explain, - in lay-mans terms (!) - the difference between BHP and torque.

PLEASE!!!!!

[stigmundfreud]

bhp wins fights down the pub

torque seperates the men from the boys

[BB-Q]

BHP is a function of torque x 5252rpm. Can't remember what units are required to make it work, though.

[Trooper2]

Here QWERTY, check this thread and these "How Stuff Works" articles:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question381.htm

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/horsepower.htm

[gizmo.mp3]

Torque is the actual 'oomph' generated by the engine - the force it can exert to do work.
Power, measured in bhp, is the rate of generation of that force.

http://craig.backfire.ca/pages/autos/horsepower explains it much better than I can, but my favourite analogy is that an elephant can pull a tree out of the ground... slowly. A cheetah can't pull much, but what power is has is delivered very quickly.

[QWERTY4]

BB-Q said:

BHP is a function of torque x 5252rpm. Can't remember what units are required to make it work, though.

^^^^ Am i to assume that it's not possible to explain this in laymans??

[QWERTY4]

Trooper2 said:

Here QWERTY, check this thread and these "How Stuff Works" articles:

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question381.htm

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/horsepower.htm

gizmo.mp3 said:

Torque is the actual 'oomph' generated by the engine - the force it can exert to do work.
Power, measured in bhp, is the rate of generation of that force.

http://craig.backfire.ca/pages/autos/horsepower explains it much better than I can, but my favourite analogy is that an elephant can pull a tree out of the ground... slowly. A cheetah can't pull much, but what power is has is delivered very quickly.

Thank-you both!

[RLK500]

Forget all the maths bollox, tourque makes road cars go fast, bhp makes race cars go fast......

[QWERTY4]

From your analogys (which do make sense) and from what i've read i'm starting to 'get' the difference.

The next thing, is to put it into context. I can see that they're are directly linked, - where I have trouble is comparing 2 cars, - one with more BHP and less torque, - the other with more torque but less BHP...

... - and then to take it further, - how the difference between both the above cars equates to the difference in performance to the cars themselves (hope that makes sense!)



edit actually I think my questions are about to be answered further down one of those links

Edited by QWERTY4 on Friday 24th August 00:48

[Strawman]

Torque and BHP figures quoted for a particular engine are the peak figures, peak torque is usually lower down in the rev range and BHP at the top end, I see BHP as a function of torque over time the more revs the more application of an engines torque per second
HTH
Its easier to understand if you look at a dyno graph and you can see how the 2 figures vary across the range of an engine

Edited by Strawman on Friday 24th August 01:08

[JackDaniels]

As far as I understood it BHP gives a car its top speed and torque gives it the 0-60 time so if you want big top speeds for say driving on a motorway with no speed limits find car with loads of BHP. If you want a car that gets to a speed limit of say 70mph as quick as possible get a car with loads of torque.
Could be talking rubbish but it kinda makes sense to me

[stigmundfreud]

not really boocks at all jack

f1 cars = shit loads of bhp and a gnats farts worth of torque.

Torque is how much shit it can haul. BHP is how easy it can develop it

[M3John]

gizmo.mp3 said:

Torque is the actual 'oomph' generated by the engine - the force it can exert to do work.
Power, measured in bhp, is the rate of generation of that force.

http://craig.backfire.ca/pages/autos/horsepower explains it much better than I can, but my favourite analogy is that an elephant can pull a tree out of the ground... slowly. A cheetah can't pull much, but what power is has is delivered very quickly.

Good explanation (sp?) this one ^^^^^

[jollygreen]

Engines produce torque - a force. Power is the speed at which it can produce that force.

[Fer]

Driving terms explained in under 50 words...

Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car
and oversteer is when you hit the wall with the rear of the car.
Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall,
And torque is how far you take the wall with you.

[madbadger]

Torque is the length of your spanner. Power is the size of your bicep.

[Fallen Angel]

gizmo.mp3 said:

Torque is the actual 'oomph' generated by the engine - the force it can exert to do work.
Power, measured in bhp, is the rate of generation of that force.

http://craig.backfire.ca/pages/autos/horsepower explains it much better than I can, but my favourite analogy is that an elephant can pull a tree out of the ground... slowly. A cheetah can't pull much, but what power is has is delivered very quickly.

Good analogy - I like that

---

I normally use the... damn my head hurts as it thwacks the headrest... hmmmm quite torquey then

Edited by Fallen Angel on Friday 24th August 08:48

[Dracoro]

I heard a full sized bloke pushing down on a pushbike pedal generates twice as much torque as a bugatti veyron.

Torque figures by themselves are meaningless.

What you need is a measurement that takes the torque figure, the gearing and the revs of an engine to give a meaningful measurement of power. Can you tell what that is yet.

To put in context. I'm a 6'4 chap of 15+ stone and there's a skinny little 15 year old kid down the road. I have more torques than the kid by a long way, however he can cycle faster than I can (and for longer lol ).

[nsashby]

I read that in engines torque is the size of the bang and power is how many times you can generate that bang in a given time period.

Hence a truck engine generates lots of torque but the size and weight of the components in the engine prevent it from revving to say 10,000 revs to turn that huge bang into a massive power figure.

A motorbike engine doesn't make a big bang but the lightweight engine revs to 10,000+, generating lots of little bangs that add up to a (relatively) high power figure.

I always wondered how F1 engines could generate massive power figures from engines smaller than most fast road cars, but road car engine components aren't designed to allow the engine to do 20,000 revs per minute. But then again, road engines don't need to be rebuilt every 500 miles or so.

This is how I got my head around the torque / power question.

Edited by nsashby on Friday 24th August 09:09

[900T-R]

Fallen Angel said:

---

I normally use the... damn my head hurts as it thwacks the headrest... hmmmm quite torquey then

Could have something to do with gearing, though. That, or sidestepping the clutch at a gazillion RPM.