Is Torque King?

I think we are all really saying similar things but the common language leaves a lot to be desired. Instead of torque, a better term would be rotational work, and instead of horsepower rotational power, when we are talking about a rotating engine.

So take any motor, and keep it in one gear and accelerate it in a car. Measure acceleration. Does the peak acceleration occurs at peak horsepower or at peak torque? It occures at peak torque, the acceleration actually just follows the torque curve. Still you don't want to shift at peak torque because then you lose the torque multiplier from gears so the longer you can make torque (which means high horsepower) is important also, but not at the expense no bottom end torque.