Gearing for Road Courses

[Mad Hatter]

Interesting thought!

As Grant mentioned, I went from a 3.73 to a 3.31 and quite liked it. Apart from the better spacing, it made 2nd much more usable, and avoided using the weak 5th gear as 4th was good for over 130mph.
once I swapped to the Calimer stage 3 it got so tall that it gave me a nose bleed (Big, fatter, badder gears). Switched back to a 3.73 and was/am seriously debating a 3.55 now. Even bought one and its sitting in the garage now.

With Covid and all its dreadful after effects, it looks like our big track might go under and will be left with smaller slower tracks.. If so will keep the 3.73 gear as it is.

Bizarre that the car still drives to the track! gonna have to get a trailer one day.. Explaining the wing and all to the cops will start getting a bit sketchy....

 

[Mark Bedel]

Shifting takes time to execute on track, and shifting all the time can also get a little distracting. I've generally seen 3.31 and 3.55 work best on track for 5.0 powered cars with the MT-82. You'll accelerate faster in lower gears than you would in higher gears so keep that in mind too.

For example, at Thunderhill I had consistent 2-3mph faster speeds down the front straight when running a 26.3" rear tire vs 25.2" rear tire. I was able to stay in 4th gear longer with the taller tire.

At the end of the day, use some calculators online and what speeds you hit on track to choose a ratio that works best.

I have to agree with you...I've always thought that the 3.73 is a bit low for the MT82 gearing. I haven't switched out to 3.55's yet, but I'm giving it serious consideration.

 

[docs302]

As with Mad Hatter, I too switched to the 3:31 and it made a huge difference. I was grabbing an early 5th gear down the front straight at several of my east coast tracks and even one of my hillclimbs and it was killing my lap time. I was able to stay in 4th at all of those events once I switched....one less shift and the car was still pulling. This was using a 305/680/18 tire. Then after I added the additional HP with intake and cams, I was getting back into 5th gear right at the end of a few straights which is exactly what you don't want. Once I need to rebuild/repair the motor and/or transmission I'm going to pay attention to the transmission gearing. The current gearing makes 5th worthless........acceleration is completely neutered