DP Horsepower

DanTheRVMan wrote:

Mr.Mark wrote:
As I've mentioned before in the past, we go slow up steep inclines. I can pass some truckers but most motorhomes pass us. We have the 425 hp Cummins with 1,200 lbs. ft. of torque. We weight just a hair over 40,000 lbs.

I just let the cruise take care of the speed but if I get a running start, I can pass a lot of vehicles. One problem is, if we get caught behind a very slow truck, it's hard to pick up speed to get around them while climbing the hill. I'm not trying to race up but I thought that we would go up faster.

The new coach I'm thinking about has 500 hp w/ 1,750 lb. ft. of torque and weighs over 50,000 lbs. I may be in the same situation.

MM.

http://www.prevostcommunity.com/PDF/Motor%20Home%20Fuel%20economy.pdf

weight/hp or weight/(torque x rpm)

increase weight - speed decreases
increase torque (thereby increasing HP) - speed increases
increase rpm - speed increases
increase hp - speed increases

hp is simply a mathematical substitute for torque x rpm BOTH of which increase speed up hill.

On Edit - if your coach is heavy try to enjoy the view like Mark:B

Anyway, the poster who used the leg press analogy hit the nail on the head. Sometimes its unfortunate that torque gets brought up.

For your specific question, yes... 260hp is adequate as it will get you where you are going. Sometimes adequate is an adjective that can be relative though.

Without knowing the gearing or year of the V10 you referenced, its hard to estimate the amount of torque delivered to the wheels to say how your overall experience with the DP will be comparatively but all years of the V10 put out more than 260hp so your experience with top speed on grades will be worse. That is of course assuming that you were getting all the power possible out of your V10 by letting it rev. If not, you may have a more pleasant experience with the DP as it will appear to not be working as hard to keep a similar speed on an incline.