Announcing the answer first, neither the weight nor the horsepower alone can determine who pulls whom. Looking at the following diagram first, you can abstract the scene of the tug-of-war between the two cars into the model in the diagram.
The decisive factor for who will win is the friction given to whom by the ground. This friction is determined by the maximum static friction between the car and the ground (determined by the weight of the car and the nature of the tires and the ground) and the maximum lateral force that the car can exert on the ground (depending on the torque of the car, generally speaking, the torque of a car with more horsepower is not smaller).
So what role do the two play in the tug-of-war process?The maximum static friction limits the maximum lateral force exerted by the ground on the car, while torque determines how much the car can use its potential for maximum static friction.
Doesn't sound too easy to understand, does it?Here are two examples of extreme cases.
1.Two cars, one with a lot of torque, parked on absolutely smooth ground;The other car had little torque and was parked on rough ground. Obviously, the ground doesn't give any lateral force to the first car, so the second car wins easily. Therefore, it is possible to lose if the torque is high.
2.A car and a mountain tug-of-war. The torque of the mountain is zero, and the torque of the car is not zero. It is conceivable that the car can never pull the mountain, but on the other hand, although the mountain will never lose, it can never pull the car. Therefore, a large maximum static friction does not necessarily mean that you will win, but you will definitely not lose.
In summary, in the simplified model, one of the factors of maximum static friction and torque does not determine who will win, and only the side with the highest maximum static friction and high torque will definitely win. Other situations need to be analyzed in detail, so I will not repeat them. In practice, we also have to consider factors such as the point and direction of action of the force, and the problem becomes more complicated.