Power Broken Down By The Numbers

Power!

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.