The answer to your question on torque and rpm is and why the Veyron is miles faster is.... power.
Before this all kicks off (as all threads on this do).
You must realise the following:
Your engine doesn't produce 106 ft lbs of torque.
It produces 106 ft lbs @ at an engine speed.
That value of torque, at the specific speed produces/represents a value of power.
The Veyron doesn't produce 1001 HP.
It produces 1001 hp at an engine speed.
That value of power, at the specific engine speed requires a certain value of torque.
It is very important to get away from thinking in terms of peak figures. It also doesn't make sense to make a huge fuss about "torque VS power' (which is better YO!) and treating them as separate entities. They are so intrinsically linked.
Ultimately, you can think in terms of torque OR power and will come to the same conclusion (if you do your sums correctly).
The reason why the Veyron is so fast, is NOT because of the 1001PS. That headline figure is largely irrelevant. It's the fact it makes a massive mount of power across it's entire rev range. It generate at low of power across the rev range because it produces a lot of torque across the rev range. This is why we talk in terms of 'power curves' and 'torque curves'.
I'll add the wiki links for work, energy and power. As there is no point in me explaining it too.
work -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_(physics)
energy -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Units_of_energy
power -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_(physics)
At a very fundamental level, ignoring all the constraints of reality (i.e. In maths world).
If we want to know the ultimate performance we only need to know power.
More power = faster delivery of energy = the more work you can do.
The real world we are constrained by the machines we can produce, and limitations of usability. Which is where torque and transmissions become important. We can deal with this in another post (or this one will becomes a monster).
