[lizziemeister'sV6]

This is my view on engine horsepower. Gearing does make a difference in the amount of work the engine can do. Horsepower can be rated at the flywheel or at the road wheel/brake after the final drive. As an example farm tractors are rated 2 horsepower ratings. 1 is flywheel/belt/pulley horsepower and the other is brake/wheel horsepower. In the Nebraska Tractor Testing Reviews the engineers give 2 horsepower ratings on the same tractor and the flywheel horsepower is always higher than the brake/wheel power. I believe that the car manufacturers in the 1960's used brake/wheel horsepower ratings to lower the HP to car weight ratio to get their cars in a sub high- performance class for insurance purposes. So does gearing change engine horsepower? Not at all at the flywheel - but power delivered to the wheel is a whole different animal - a farm tractor can pull a load easier in 2nd gear than 5th gear.