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Old 07-28-2010, 08:27 PM   #8107
Bob Cosby
 
Drives: 2010 Vette
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Knoxville, TN
Posts: 572
Quote:
Originally Posted by 8cd03gro View Post
That's not my point. My point is, the 3.73 equipped cars aren't (apparently) ETing quicker in the 1/4 than the taller geared cars, nor are they ETing quicker at any reference points, such as 1/8, 1000', etc. Any advantage the 3.73's hold is theoretical and unproven. I see a lot of people on this forum assuming that a shorter rear gear means a quicker car, which is not always the case. How power delivery meshes with the gearing is much more important than how short the gearing actually is.
3.73s probably won't be quickest on hard-compound street tires because the extra torque multiplication at the wheels will likely be wasted on the launch, and at each shift via increased tire spin. Put a tire on the car, and a driver that knows what he is doing, and that will change.

Also, 3.73s will put a stock 5.0 right into the 6850 rpm "soft limiter" at the end of the 1/4 mile in 4th gear. This will admittedly have very little effect on ET but will show up as as a lower trap speed.

If I wanted to get the quickest stock 5.0, I'd likely opt for 3.55s, and hope I could find a track with enough bite to allow me to take advantage of the small increase in gearing (3.31 to 3.55).
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