Sounds like you guys should have taken Physics instead of Phys Ed. Torque is a measurement of the amount of force required to rotate an object. HP relates torque to an RPM. The same amount of torque at a higher RPM will have a higher HP rating. HP = Torque x RPM / 5252. Don’t worry there are still plenty of jobs in the auto industry, unfortunately they will most likely involve working on the assembly line.

http://dmiessler.com/study/horsepower/ they are intimately related mathematically, and they have everything to do with each other. Horsepower does take engine speed into consideration, but not weight..

torque is how fast you get there, horsepower is how fast you can go

your half right, yeah it's calculated with a mathematical formula but it has nothing to do with horsepower. Torque is a twisting force that may or may 'Not' result in motion. Horsepower is calculated using time, weight, speed, and distance.

Torque is a mathematical representation of where a car makes horsepower at on the rpm curve. Even though the large 8.3 or 8.4 "only" makes 450/505/550/605 depending on the viper's year, the amount of torque it produces at low rpms is very good. In fact the new 2008 str-10 makes more torque at around 3.5k rpm than the corvette Z06 makes on its whole band. The reason honda engines have such horsepower per litre is because of the lack of torque, and where it makes the power. You can't use them as an analog for what you think an 8.3 should be producing because they are very different engines.

Vipers are trash. Yes they are nice, and fast, but for what you pay, your're getting ripped off. And it should not be doing autocross, vipers are horrible handling cars. My buddy's dad has one and totally agrees with me. I dont mean to pick on this car so much but is it just me or does 550hp (stock) seem kinda low for the size of the engine?

big car? its about the size of a elongated 350z.. not very large at all.

cars nice as hell, personally have ridden in it. mean

need a longer course to hear that s/c and exhaust more ;)

Hahaha having some fun when he gets down on it.