Quote:
Originally Posted by Methodical4u
I was always told by a friend who was a mechanic that you have cars that build torque quickly such as most V8's, but then have some engines that make their power through higher RPM's if you look at pretty much any dyno chart, you will see the Z builds smooth power that doesn't fall off until about what? 7200 RPM's or so? vs other cars that peak quicker but then fall on their face. Take my old 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 which had 280 ft. lbs of tq, and would pull really well from about 40 up to 100 or 120, however, the car MUST be kept at 5500-6000 RPM's or under otherwise the power is gone.
When you watch a car run the 1/4, you'll see some that run equal times, but the trap speed shows the HP... what does your son's car trap? What can most Z's trap? Some stock Z's trap 106-108 mph.
I don't know all of the little details... i'm basically just trying to show examples based on my very limited knowledge.
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The low end torque is partially a function of how the engine is designed, but in both examples here (Mazda/Audi), it is a function of the turbo.
Your Mazda ran out of steam up top due to turbo limitations. A lot of guys swapped for a more efficient turbo, which remedied the "out of gas" feeling up top.
OP--
Horsepower is nothing more than a function of TQ*RPM. More "torque" just means oomph down low, whereas more horsepower tends to indicate more spread out power.
The 370z has a pretty flat torque curve, generating moderate amounts of torque throughout the rev range. It's not particularly high, but it is ample.
The Audi has more gumph down low, but it runs out up top. I presume this is mostly due to poor turbo efficiency up top, but I'm not really familiar with the car.