Quote:
Originally Posted by amgthis
295 lb/ft vs 516 lb/ft. M3 is fast but strictly in a line I'd say AMG with its crazy low end pull.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoreHead
But for a straight drag race it's high horsepower that makes more of a difference. It's only off the line that the torque is important and from what I'm reading here the Merc is worse off the line.
Obviously in this case the car has higher torque and hp figures so it doesn't matter  |
|
The reply is mostly correct. What matters for acceleration is hp much more so than torque. Of course weight matters as well.
The M3's mere 295 ft-lb of torque is multiplied by about a 1.5 times higher transmission and final drive (ratios combined) meaning the effective torque compared apples to apples is more like 440 ft lb. Basically torque to the rear wheels is what matters and this figure is approximated well by by hp. Torque from the shaft simply doesn't matter except in terms of feel and low gear/part throttle, near bogging acceleration. Power to weight is the single best metric that determines the acceleration of a car and here the AMG just barely outshines the M3, both just a bit below 9 lb/hp. Of course the calculations/theory here are right in line with the observation, generally apples to apples, the E55 is a bit faster.
I'm not sure how many times this "lecture" needs to be repeated...