About This Quiz
Of the hundreds of common car models on the roadways at any given time, it’s likely that few share exactly the same horsepower and torque measurements because there’s just so much variability in how each car is made. The purpose of the particular vehicle plays a big role in how many horses and how much torque it sports. For example, your average sedan needs to be able to go highway speeds and under but isn’t likely to be pressed to the limit on a racetrack anytime soon. Muscle cars, like the Chevrolet Camaro, are fine for road driving and can go really fast when little maneuvering is involved because they lack the braking and handling bells and whistles, making them less than ideal for speeds that involve curves.
Indeed, for all the pandering automakers do to buyers in commercials, the everyday driver doesn’t need as much horsepower or torque as someone with the last name Earnhardt or Waltrip. Despite this, flip through the pages of almost any automotive publication and you will see horsepower and torque listed for each vehicle. But how much do you know about these measurements? Channel your inner motorhead, and see if you can ace this quiz.
Horsepower is defined as work done over time. One horsepower is measured specifically as 33,000 foot-pounds of work per minute.
Scottish engineer James Watt derived the measurement of horsepower in the late 1700s after experimenting with powerful draft horses.
The measurement of 1 horsepower is actually about 50 percent more than the rate of work an average horse can sustain during a working day.
Advertisement
Torque is defined as a twisting force that causes or tends to cause rotation.
The concept of torque originated with Archimedes and his work with levers.
While torque is measured in pound-feet in the U.S., Newton meters is the metric or SI unit of measurement for torque.
Advertisement
The one-cylinder engine of the first gasoline automobile, the Benz Patent Motorcar, generated 0.75 horsepower. The Benz automobile was patented by Carl Benz in 1886.
Celebrity car collector Jay Leno once said this line.
The 2016 Mercedes-AMG GT S produces 503 horsepower.
Advertisement
Torque is the force that initiates the movement of a stationary vehicle.
Most turbocharged semitrailer engines produce 1,200-2,050 pound-feet of torque.
A vehicle at highway speed requires less torque and more horsepower to maintain the relatively high rate of speed.
Advertisement
The Peel P50, originally built in the 1960s, produces only 4.2 horsepower.
The new replica of the Peel P50 produces just 3.09 pound-feet of torque.
The horsepower of an engine is calculated by using torque. To find horsepower, torque (pound-feet) is multiplied by speed (revolutions per minute) and divided by the constant 5,252.
Advertisement
A dynamometer is used to measure the horsepower of an automobile. The drive wheels of a vehicle are placed on spinning rollers that apply a load to the drivetrain while the torque is measured at various engine rpm speeds. The data is converted to horsepower.
The electrical equivalent of 1 horsepower is 746 watts.
The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse produces 1,106 pound-feet of torque. The Veyron has one of the highest torque ratings of all production cars.
Advertisement
Brake horsepower measures the engine output without the drivetrain. Brake refers to a horsepower measuring device called the Prony brake that was Gaspard de Prony invented in the early 1900s.
The flywheel is a heavy disc attached to the engine's crankshaft. It is designed to smooth gaps in the engine's delivery of power by storing and periodically releasing excess energy.
Brake horsepower is about 15 percent higher than the standard horsepower measurement because of power loss from friction throughout the drivetrain.
Advertisement
Newton's first law of motion is also called the law of inertia.
At a speed of 5,252 rpm, torque and horsepower are always the same.
The heat equivalent of 1 horsepower is 2,545 British thermal units, or Btu per hour.
Advertisement
The Landini Rex 110 produces 30,683 pound-feet of torque, one of the highest torque ratings of any tractor.
The Landini Rex 110 utility tractor has a rating of 102 horsepower.
Electrical motor horsepower can be derived from the electrical input to the motor in watts.
Advertisement
Donohue raced in the '60s and '70s.
In physics, torque is a vector quantity. Vectors are values that are described by both a magnitude and a direction.
Three hundred seventy-five is equal to one horsepower measured in mile-pounds per hour.
Advertisement