horsepower/weight relationship

[bmwcushman]

Looking for some rules of thumb. . Truck time at 0-60 and the quarter mile. If you double the horsepower and double the weight will the time be the same?

 

[DJW]

Not up to answering your question however, but in most circumstances power to weight ratio will dictate rate of acceleration. Very few cars will beat the time to reach 60 compared to probably all or most motorcycles.

 

[SBall]

Recall Newton's law, F=MA which describes the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration where if you double the force without changing the value of the mass, your rate of acceleration will double.



If you really want to dig deeper though, you will have to look into the relationship between your truck's net rotational "torque" at the real axle and how that translates into the "force" down the drag strip. Now the fun begins as you evaluate the tire diameter, driveline inertia, yadda yadda yadda.



Without getting too involved, the short answer would suggest that if you increased your net torque without changing anything else, your acceleration should improve.



Horsepower is a function of torque and speed where HP=(torque x RPM)/5252, so you have to work on producing torque with the CTD, not necessarily horsepower. Our diesels don't like us to try to gain HP through increasing RPMs. Things get scary with a diesel pushing 7000 RPM.