Quote:
Originally Posted by USAZR1
No,it won't. From 60-120mph,all else being equal,a mildly modified ZR-1 w/4.10's will dust one w/3.45's. The car with lower gearing will pull harder to redline every time
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Well, 18% torque increase for any rpm is correct, but it is a bit simplistic: The torque curve is
not flat across the rpm range, and speed at the top of every gear is going to be 18%
less for any give rpm. The combination of rising and falling torque curves over rpm and the fact of some loss in speed/time for each shift apparently tends to mitigate a substantial amount of the advantage of the 4.10s for the ZR-1 in the 1/4 mile - or so it seems from observation.
And, to Dom's point, Those that ran the 1/2 mile drags in Monee last year, the 3.45 geared cars really featured the LT5's strong suit - faring much better at 140+ mph in 4th than that reported by the 4.10 guys - having to shift to 5th and experiencing the cars acceleration "dive" when they did so.
What is starting to emerge, sans any formal analysis here so far, is the 4.10s may not be big enough for either the 1/4 or even the 1/2 mile contest to make a clear, indisputable advantage over the stock 3.45 "cog", but only in part due to the extra shift. In both cases ending in 4th in the "quarter" or 5th in the 1/2, the LT5 is not at peak power.
So, less than peak power in the trap PLUS the extra shift eats up most of the torque advantage of the 4.10 in either contest: just NOT quite enough gear. Something like a 4.3:1 gear might fix that, me thinks.
I like 5ABI VT's description of the "back and forth" advantage when comparing the two (3.45 vs. the4.10) in the quarter mile contest (and perhaps the 1/2 mile too). Not so clearly cut and dried as comparing gear ratios alone would suggest.
Interesting discussion.
