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Makes perfect sense i think Parnelli Bone.
So in any car, the point after where the torque and power intersect is where the speed does not build up as fast as it were prior to that?. Im going by the little graph in the car settings window offcourse when i say that.
No not quite. Here's where it gets a bit complex.
Speed generally builds faster and faster till Peak Horsepower is passed. After Peak HP, speed starts to fall off, and you'll generally notice your car will now seem to slow. Shift gears again...and if the tachometer falls below peak HP, you'll again notice a bump in the speed. This is why in some cars (such as the Viper and many muscle cars) it's important to
shift early so you keep hitting that precious area that falls between peak torque and peak horsepower. This is where your engine will be going its fastest in the shortest amount of time.
With some cars, you might even want to shift early (
before redline) just to keep hitting this area between torque & HP, because your car will be faster overall. But this is a judgement call. Sometimes, in some cars, you'll actually want them to redline (or nearly hit the RPM limiter) because there's still some usable power available after peak HP has passed.
With each engine, if you study the engine graph, and open up your car's stats in the garage (the screen just before you go to sell a car) it will tell you exactly where peak torque and peak HP lie. Once you know this, you can get a feel for where best performance lies.
Now, this is the case,
unless a car's aerodynamics or gearing has already prevented speed from building any further in the first place.
In other words, let's say you set your gearing real tall, or you step into a car with real tall gearing. The Honda Odyssey is a great example. As you drive around the Test Course, eventually the Odyssey's engine gives its all, and it simply can't go any faster. Even tho it's got a 5-speed tranny, yet once the Odyssey is in 4th gear, it seems like it's out-of-steam, and it never shifts into 5th. And if YOU shift it into 5th, it will immediately start to SLOW.
Aerodynamics also limit a car's speed sometimes....case in point the Dodge Ram. Here we've got the HEMI, one of the most torquey, powerful engines on the American market. Yet above 100 mph or so, you'll notice the Ram really starts to struggle with speed because it's got a huge frontal area, and the engine (as powerful as it is) is giving its all, even tho you're not necessarily near peak horsepower area.
Different engines create different torque & horsepower shapes when plotted onto a graph.
In general, a car's speed will start to build exponentially after the peak-torque has been passed, and it starts to fall after peak horsepower has been passed. Some cars have other factors that modify this, however.
Many Acura and Honda/VTEC engines have their torque and power peak very near one another (peak torque at 7,000 and peak HP at 7,600 rpms, for instance). An engine like this is described as having a "narrow" power-band. The engine graph winds up looking very "spiky" when plotted on a grid. With a small, narrow-band, 4-cylinder engine such as this, you'll really need to keep shifting gears constantly so that you keep the tachometer in or near the correct power-band.
You may notice that if you shift gears too early with such an engine (let's say you shift early and the tachometer lands at about 3,000 rpms in 4th gear or something) it will "bog down"--or it will start to struggle to regain speed. So it's important to keep shifting gears (or set up with an automatic that does this) if you are to keep speed as constant as possible.
Some other engines have a "wide" power band. The Lancia Stratos is a great example. Even tho its V6 is still rather small, here we have peak torque at 3,000 rpms, and peak horsepower at 7,000. With such an engine, you don't have to be quite as careful when shifting gears...
generally anywhere from 3,000 to 7,000 is safe.
Then you have torque-monster engines like the V8s in TVRs. I've literally been racing such a car, found myself leaving a tight corner, and then pounced on the throttle in the wrong gear (4th gear when I shoulda been in 3rd for instance) so that the tach falls waaay below both the peak torque and peak HP areas (tach falls to 2,000 rpms, let's say) and it don't matter! These torquey engines have such great twist-force (and in a light car) that they'll pull pull pulllll....
So I'm just trying to illustrate that from car to car (and engine to engine) torque and power combine with gearing, weight, drivetrain layout, and other factors, so that many cars in GT or real-life require a different approach.
....sorry, I know you wnated simple answers. But I'm Parnelli Bones.
I get carried away with stuff like this.
Oh btw just so you know im an Englisman living in the states now. Since ive been here (four years and counting), i dont open jars by hand anymore. I use one of those jar opener thingys
Call me lazy i know
AngloAmerican
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but in a weird kind of way its starting to make sense as well 
