Torque began as a moderator (and one of the originals helping found the site).... but after a few days of it he felt restrained, unable to be himself (the cynical sarcastic bastard).... so he stepped down to have more freedom to say what he wanted without giving the site a bad name.
Imagine this situation:
Newbie: "Hi, I'm new to this site."
Torque (Mod): "VTEC PWER!!!! E34 Represent y0!! diekthxbye."
Haha, torque is awesome and hilarious, but he felt restrained as a mod, so he stepped down.