[bigearl]

However you can get a much higher return on investment in HP. The problem with torque is it's pretty specific to how much fuel you burn. You can burn fuel slightly more efficiently at any given displacement, but torque is limited.

To burn more fuel requires bigger pistons, bigger valves, etc. which are heavier and can't be moved as quickly. As these components get bigger and are asked to be spun faster, they fail faster (Dragsters have time to rebuild measured in seconds). You get more torque (instant twist) to develop the best launch.

On a normally aspirated F1 car, they have achieved 5x more hp then torque. As you add torque, which means adding displacement, which means reducing rpms. If you want to add displacement, an F1 guy will want to add cylinders to reduce the inertia of each piston. HP is the measure of work over time and is more about your ability to cut through the air.

That's all extremely meaningful in 19,000 rpm race cars, and maybe somewhat so on a crotch-rocket. HP is really esoteric in real world driving. You can definitely feel HP when you accelerate, but it's not that instant whump in the back.

For my mortal-ass, I prefer torque because I want to feel the engine power when I put my foot to the floor. It doesn't matter to me if my engine has enough power to keep pushing through the wind past 150.