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Bench racers and automotive journalists around the globe often love to gloat about the torque figures that a particular car produces, but what exactly is this mysterious force?
Torque and horsepower are intrinsically tied together as torque is considered as the ability to perform work whereas horsepower is how rapidly said work is accomplished.
This.
Granted the old sleds with huge V8 torque and no HP were dogs to drive. The modern push is for small engines with forced induction to utilize the free torque, although a good compromise still is not a real replacement to displacement.
The old sleds had all the torque down low, then the curve sloped downward, where todays engines have a much flatter torque curve, holding on for most of the rev range.
HP = Torque (in lb-ft) x RPM/5252 --- as long as you're rotating, can't have one without the other. Acceleration = Force (that's torque)/Mass . Maximum acceleration your goal? Minimize mass and maximize the torque applied over the entire acceleration period.
This always reminds of an old cartoon where 2 scifi nerds are debating 'who would win - Chewbacca or Darth Vader?' I think this link does a bit better job of dealing with the topic than the Content's Curator's link does. http://www.epi-eng.com/piston_engine...and_torque.htm
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What is Torque and Why is it Good for You? 
