1769 | Year Scotsman James Watt, |
inventor of the first practical | |
steam engine, coined the | |
term "horsepower." | |
33,000 | Foot-pounds per minute of |
force that Watt calculated a | |
"brewery horse" could gen | |
erate. This was the original | |
measure of 1 horsepower. | |
1.2 | Peak horsepower of a human, |
sustainable for 3 seconds. | |
14.9 | Peak horsepower of a horse, |
sustainable for 3 seconds. | |
179.8 | Peak horsepower of the |
989cc Ducati Desmosedici | |
RR, the most powerful produc | |
tion motorcycle we've tested. | |
230 | Horsepower of the current |
799cc Ducati GP9 MotoGP racebike. | |
260 | Horsepower of the 2006 |
Ducati GP6 on which the | |
Desmosedici RR is based. | |
350 | Horsepower of a Pro Stock |
drag bike, capable of sub-7- | |
second, 195-mph quarter-miles. | |
1300 | Horsepower of a Top Fuel drag |
bike, capable of sub-6-second, | |
250-mph quarter-miles. | |
7000 | Horsepower of a Top Fuel |
Dragster, capable of sub-5-second, | |
335-mph quarter-miles. | |
39,332 | Horsepower of the twin Turbo- |
Union RB199 jet engines | |
powering Panavia's Tornado | |
combat plane. The Top Fuel Dr | |
agster will still outsprint it | |
over a quarter-mile. | |
40 million | Horsepower of one of the |
Space Shuttle's two solid | |
rocket boosters. A drag race | |
between the Space Shuttle | |
and a Top Fuel Dragster | |
hasn't yet been arranged. |
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