[dharmab]

It's correct for their audience's curiosity, comparing the peak horsepower of a sports car to a horse.

[throw310822]

Then you could simply attach your 1hp engine to some simple mechanical device (e.g., an elevated water tank) that will deliver any amount of horsepower after having been "charged" by your engine for some time, and call that "peak power". I.e., the peak power measure doesn't make sense: the only number that counts is the average, sustained output.

[rini17]

It is important in practice. Most machines need short burst of peak power when starting.

[dharmab]

But that's less fun!