Don't agree w/ gearing making torque the same . Lookat a trctor, small low h.pand low torque engines w/ wild gearing, they still don't have any torque. TORQUE AND GEARING AINT THE SAME THING !
Cause a tractor has no power. Gearing can't create power. It can only get you into the powerband. The ultimate gearing would be a variable transmission that would keep you at peak hp through out the 1/4 mile. Or any high work loads. Thats why rock crawllers run crazy gearing so to be up in the powerband (hp) while driving at low speeds.
But both of the above engines (700 vs 350 lbs-ft) have the same power. Just different torque. And if you gear them optimally for the 1/4 you'll out they'll have similar torque to the ground. But really more important be at similar hp per mph, given them similar power to the ground depending on the hp curves.
Cause you get nothing for free. When you build to wildly different displacement engines to the same hp one is gonna trade rpm for torque and the other is gonna do the opposite. And If rpm wasn't just as valuable as torque for the reasons I explained earlier. It wouldn't be apart of the hp formula.
The 5252 part is mainly to convert the engines power to compare with horses leaving torque and rpm to explain your engine power.
If torque plays a big role in quarter mile times how come there no formula or rule of thumb etc.. for optimal torque ?
We all know power to weight does.