Originally posted by JVT:
They're HP limited, but not TQ limited, hence the huge amounts of torque...
It is all in the RPM my friend. Horsepower is calculated from torque so "Big RPM = Big Horsepower." This is why Indy cars revving to 13000 RPM make huge HP, and rally cars running at the low end make so little.
horsepower = torque * rpm / 5252
So look at an example relationship:
100 ft-lbs. * 3000 RPM / 5252 = 57HP
50 ft-lbs. * 6000 RPM / 5252 = 57HP
You have half as much torque as before, but just because you doubled the RPM the motor is running at, you still have the same amount of HP.
