What is HP anyway?

[juliemac57 at hotmail.com (Julie Macfarlane)]

What was the original measurement. I remember 1 horse- 1 ton- 1 foot is that 
correct?

Also a measurement I remember is power to weight ratio.
That is the true measure of power to the road.
Nice to say 150 HP, but is it in a 1500lb car or a 3000lb car?

I would love to get my car weighed at a station prior to my next dyno day.

Julie Macfarlane
Menlo Park Research & Development
Internet Application Developer
www.menloparkrandd.com
www.montgomeryweb.org
Amsterdam NY





>From: "Allyn" <amalventano@sc.rr.com>
>To: "Julie Macfarlane" <juliemac57@hotmail.com>, <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
>Subject: Re: What is HP anyway?
>Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2003 21:03:55 -0400
>
> > I know that 1 HP in electrical power=746 watts. But I see power posted 
>as
>HP
> > and BHP for cars. Whats the diff? Is there any?
>
>HP = calculated horse of engine based on torque @ rpm. there doesnt seem to
>be a set standard of measurement for this one.
>
>BHP = brake horsepower, measured at the output of the crank. 'brake' comes
>from the method of measurement. engine is run wide open, at a specified 
>rpm,
>with some form of braking mechanism loading down the crank to keep it at
>that rpm constantly. the amount of torque on the brake factored with rpm
>gives BHP. this is the most accurate way to measure engine output, but its
>not very practical since you need an engine dyno.
>
>WHP = wheel horse, measured at wheels
>
>WBHP = wheel horse on a 'braking dyno', where the dyno does the same as the
>BHP method above, just at the wheels instead of at the crank output.
>
>important to note is that HP/WHP figures may differ from BHP/WBHP figures.
>non-braking tests may be dynamic (i.e. a dyno run, 4th gear pull, etc). in
>those cases, the engine is accelerating. different factors play into this,
>which may cause an engine to get higher/lower numbers as compared to the B
>results.
>
>also, dont forget european hp numbers are calculated differently sometimes.
>safer to go with the kw numbers and do the conversion to us-hp to eliminate
>any confusion.
>
>hth
>Al
>
>
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