The message
from Chris Bacon contains these words:
Nick Maclaren wrote:
A long time ago, the legislators defined it in a way that
made no engineering sense, and it created chaos in the UK car
industry for many decades. Yes, 'real' BHP is a clear unit

Erm, are you saying that "the legislators" defined the "BHP"
as a different size to an "ordinary" HP?

Legislators defined 'horsepower' in such a way that it was easy to
produce vehicles with a lot more power than their nominal HP.

This resulted in longer and longer strokes, and engines which were slow
in rpm, but high in bottom-end grunt. (The first Jaguar was a case in
point.)

This had the effect of retarding engine development in the UK as it was
not easy to accommodate overhead valves. Rover got over that with the
'inlet over exhaust' layout, but it still meant a slow-revving low
compression engine.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/