While torque measures the turning force produced by a vehicle's engine and the engine's ability to perform work, horsepower measures how fast the engine can perform the work; Therefore, high torque makes an engine accelerate faster from a stop, and high horsepower makes for higher top speed.
If you gear for quicker acceleration you lose top speed.
A high torque engine can drop gear ration and win the acceleration game every time until torque peaks and horse power keeps rising.
Torque peaks between 2,000 and 6,000 rpm depending on engine.
When the Hudson won, 6,000 rpm max that was needed on a one-half mile or less track.
The Hudson Hornet in 1951 with a novel arrangement whereby the chassis was in a unit with the body and the floor pan recessed in such a way that the passenger “stepped down” into the chassis. This lower car had a sleek look about it with enclosed rear wheels and a streamlined sloping tail. Sedans were as beautiful as the convertibles. Instead of the standard 145 horsepower engine one could order, in 1952, the “Twin-H” version with dual carburetors increasing the horsepower to 170 and then, with subsequent tuning (the so-called 7-X modification) up to 210 horsepower. This L- head engine was at the time “the largest six-cylinder engine in the world”. If the definition of a “muscle car” is a stock car which has factory performance alterations as an option, then Hudson may be the first post-war American muscle car.
With this low slung forgiving chassis style and powerful engine it’s no wonder it dominated NASCAR racing in the early 50s. During 1952 a team of three drivers won 27 NASCAR races for Hudson and in AAA racing, Marshall Teague drove his Hornet to 14 wins. Its NASCAR record in 1952 was 27 out of 34 grand national races, 22 out of 37 in 1953 and 17 out of 37 in 1954. This was a record hard to beat, specifically because NASCAR race cars were stock cars. By the end of 1954 Hudson Motor Car Company became part of American Motors who did not back racing.
