let the equations show us the truth...
Okay guys, I've been reading this and decided to throw my $. 02 in on the subject. It has been argued for ages about which value (HP or TQ) is more important, which one does what, where you want to drive & race at and why. To cut to the chase, to go the fastest possible over a 1/4 mile you want to launch at peak rear wheel torque to provide the largest initial acceleration and then move directly (the best would be instantaneously) to peak horsepower and stay there for the whole run. Of course, this isn't possible, so you have to do your best to get as close as possible. Here's a little explanation in more detail of the two players:
Torque:
Torque is F dot d, the cross product of the force * the moment arm. Now force is obviously what pushes your truck forward, and is the force you feel when you accelerate. The real question is - which torque? It's not flywheel torque that actually moves your car, but rather "delivered torque" (torque to the rear wheels), or torque * gear multiplication. This is why you accelerate faster in first gear than in third (ignoring wind resistance). This is the reason you can hit 120 on the dyno Mopar... no wind slowing you down (and our trucks are bricks at 120!).
How does this work? Say at we have 800 ft-lbs of torque available at an rpm. Now in first let’s say a 4:1 transmission gear and 1:1 rear gear (to make math easier) - so a final drive ratio of 4:1. So in first gear we will have 800 * 4 = 3200 ft-lbs of torque pushing us forward. Say second gear is 2:1 - so we have 800 * 2 = 1600 ft-lbs of torque pushing us forward. 3200 is obviously more than 1600 (twice!), and accounts for that difference.
Now let's look at this alittle differently.
Gearing is fixed for each gear, so velocity and rpm arerelated. Say we have 800ft-lbs of torque @ 2500, and 300hp at 3000 rpm (only 525 ft-lbs). Now lets say we are at a certain velocity where we could be in first gear (4:1 gear reduction) at 3000 rpm, or second gear (2:1 gear reduction) at 2500 rpm. Now in second gear (most flywheel torque) we have 2:1 gear reduction * 800 ft-lbs of torque, or 1600 ft-lbs delivered at the rear wheels. In first gear we only have 300hp * 3000/5250 = 525 ft-lbs of flywheel torque, but it is multiplied by 4:1, so we have 2100 ft-lbs of torque delivered. Now it's obvious that 2100ft-lbs at the rear wheel will accelerate you quicker than 1600ft lbs, so first is better than second here. So basically it's torque delivered, or the product of flywheel torque * gear multiplication that matters.
So what about horsepower?
We determined above that acceleration is determined by:
Flywheel torque * gear multiplication.
Well what is flywheel torque - it is basically the rotational analogue of force. What determines gear multiplication? Well, you have a fixed set of ratios in the transmission (not a CVT transmission) so what determines what gear you can be in? Velocity (road speed). So in other words acceleration is proportional to
Force * velocity.
How convenient! There is an equation for power that says
Power = Force * Velocity!
So basically horsepower is telling us what the magnitude (proportionally) of the product of flywheel torque * gear multiplication will be - or at least when it will be maximized and minimized.
So if you maximize area under the hp curve, you are maximizing this product, and thus your acceleration HP simply takes velocity into consideration (rate at which work can be applied), so you don't have to worry about gear ratio's, etc.
To finish up, I don't agree with the statment that autos don't multiply torque like a manual does. Yes, the gears are different (planatery instead of a side shaft... the planatary is stronger by the way), but it's still a gear ratio and still provides the same multipication. I also disagree that the manual will stomp an auto at a track. I have a 2000 ram air trans am and closely follow some of the fastest LS1 powered cars in the country... they ALL have autos. No one with a stick is within a full second of any auto trannied car. Even being able to launch at 6000+ rpms and putting full power to the ground is not enough to make up for the auto. I think that HVAC could benefit his times by running a looser converter, launching with more boost (VHT anyone???) and locking up once he hits HP peak in 1st gear. Just my 2 cents tho
John
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
It sounds like you feel I'm going the right direction. Prolly the direction to a broken input shaft!
LOL 
, locked would be better than unlocked but by design we would be ultimately breaking parts as the dodge trans is completely wrong for this engines capable power output , so we work with what we have . since we work with what we have , fluid coupling is one option , completely removing the torque convertor is another viable option , anyone remember what a clutchflite is ????
