Bryant
01-31-2004, 03:54 AM
Gearing is a very important thing to get right... especially on a 125 and 250. Many people don't get it quite right and end up giving a lot away to their competitors. The following is my theory on gearing: I've heard many people's idea on setting the final drive. A lot of people like to get the engine to just get to the maximum RPM by the end of the longest straight. This is one of the biggest mistakes. I made this mistake for the longest time. By the time the engine gets into the power you have to shut it down and start braking. What you really want is to run the shortest gearing you can while not giving up too much at the end of the straight. I usually like to let the engine scream it's guts out for the last 2 full seconds of the longest straight. My theory behind this is simple. The amount that you may give up in the last second of the straight will not compare to the extra acceleration that you will gain by having a shorter overall gearing around the rest of the whole track. This way works well for many other reasons as well. First of all, you will always be able to run without the draft and still pull all the way down the straight. Next is that most finish lines are half way down the longest straight and you will have shorter gearing to get to that point. Finally, if you ever get a hard head wind you will again have the extra gearing to help. Remember that all setting are usually a compromise. Balance out the advantages of the extra acceleration versus the top speed at the end of the straight. Some tracks may favor the top speed, ie. Willow Springs, but many will gain by the extra acceleration.