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Power to weight ratio seems to make more difference in theory, but in reality you're not running your car at full HP peak the entire time. To get a good idea of how a car will realistically pull through its gears, I look at the usable torque the car has. A Grand National and a Honda S2000 have the same amount of HP, but the S2000 weighs about 700 lbs less. The power to weight ratio of the S2000 is much better... in theory the GN would have almost no chance. But in reality it's the Grand Nationals that end up accelerating faster. That's due to the fact that the GN has more than twice the amount of torque of the S2000, and the GN has the brute torque to pull through its gears faster. Sure, when both engine reach their peak RPM the S2000's is making just as much, but it only has about 150 lbs of torque to pull it from launch to its peak RPM. So it will tend to bog in its gears until the RPM's rise to a sufficient level. On the other hand the GN is going to have 345 lbs of torque available at 2000 rpm. It's going to not be able to breathe at higher RPM's and will only be able to put out as much HP as the S2000's at its peak RPM, but it had a killer torque curve to get it to that point. Just like many other things in life, it's the one who can best capitalize on their strengths who wins. While the S2000 wins by the numbers, iin reality it's a lot easier to launch and use those 345 lbs of torque that start at 2000 rpm on the GN than to launch and keep the RPM's high on the S2000.
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