[Doozer]

Others are more expert then me, but my basic understanding is anything that moves before the tires is taking energy. Get that torque to the wheels!

So pistons, bearings, gears, clutches, flywheels, driveshafts, rear-ends, CV-joints, axles all require power to rotate. All drivetrain to chassis mounts also absorb energy and they require it to hold everything in place.

Reducing power loss through transfer = more power

Simple and cheapest solution is attack the chassis first. So in a perfect world (where NHV doesn't matter) you could make all flexible mounts as stiff as possible.

Solid motor mounts
Solid tranny mount
Single piece driveshaft
Solid rear-end bushings
Solid rear subframe bushings

This set-up it would probably rattle your teeth out but it would reduce a lot of power-transfer loss for the drivetrain.

Horsepower turns heads, torque wins races