It's not so much that the horsepower itself is derived... it's just
that we can't directly measure horspower and we can easily measure
torque, so we're left to calculate the HP. What we generally call a
torquey engine, simply generates more horsepower at lower rpms than
what we refer to as a horsepower engine. Either way it's all about
where the engine makes its POWER... you simply need to gear properly to
keep the power readily on hand for the intened use.
I know most really don't care to understand why some of us get so
religious about this torque/horsepower misnomer, perhaps none but the
mechanical engineers on the list (and then maybe not all us either).
Even many of the car rags get it screwed up most the time. It's largely
just symantics... but if you don't understand the fundimentals of the
physics underneath it all, you may be doing the right thing for all the
wrong reasons.. or worse, doing the wrong things for your desired
purpose and not understand why conventional wisdom produce the intended
results.
The engine produces power... you can gear it as needed to change the
torque output.. but the power will remain the same. The engine torque
is a manifestation of it's power and the mechanical advantage
(leverage) of the design, which includes piston stroke, rod lengths and
again the gearing.
Stephen Waybright
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