|
My intention was not to debate what can shave 1/10 of a second off quarter mile times. It was to point out that telling someone looking to improve his street performance that a greater final drive reduction ratio will provide better acceleration throughout the entire speed range is not correct.
A 250 is not limited by tire spin or keeping the front tire on the ground, so a greater final drive reduction ratio will help acceleration while in 1st gear. As I've said repeatedly, once you get to where you're around the HP peak and are shifting to try to stay near there, final drive ratio is quite unimportant for street riding. You're shifting to adjust the overall drive ratio to keep it where you need it to be.
If the final reduction is greater, it will lower the speeds at which you shift into higher gears, but on the average you will have the same overall reduction ratio as someone with a lower final drive reduction ratio. In both situations you're shifing to stay as near as possible to the max acceleration part of the HP curve, wherever that might be.
Things like the time to shift, and the fact that the ratio differences between higher gears are less than between lower gears are small effects that are important on the drag strip for getting every last bit of performance, but are not going to be felt in seat of the pants while street riding.
|