Bacon you have to find the balance between the two. Torque wouldn't matter if it was like a spinner where you can build the speed of the disc up but in an axe you have around 180-270 degrees to accelerate that axe head. Torque is needed to build up the speed in that time. But gear down too much and it isn't fast enough for a good axe.


And as Maddox says torque is needed for self righting. A 120W scooter motor was tried in TOM but it didn't quite work for self righting so was switched for the 300W one.