OB_Dirty Pete
Registered
Well that's pretty specific Junior.
Whaddayagot to say, or am I too naive to deserve a detailed reply?
Make your points and let's discuss.
The ideal drag machine will have its engine exactly on the RPM that give perfect peak power production for the whole run, with no variation in revs at all. It will also keep its tires just south of traction loss for the whole run.
Therefore the ideal drag machine would never shift a gear and never spin a tire.
To accomplish this, the ideal drag machine would produce enough power...without a transmission to necessitate a shift...to break loose the largest possible tires at any point in the run until it was precisely at the traps. It would have to use a clutch to modulate power to the wheels and that clutch would have to slip to dissipate excess power as heat for the whole run and then lock up exactly at the traps.
Now think of that same run in terms of a Busas' first gear run.
The Busa is not the ideal drag machine, partially because of it's crap power-to-weight ratio and partially because of the tire most of us run it on.
But the Busa does have what it takes to BEHAVE like the ideal drag machine for the period of time that it enjoys a power-to-weight-to-traction ratio that allows it to spin the tire at will, i.e. up to about 90 mph.
During this period, having a lower gear will only force an earlier shift. It WILL NOT provide more forward force unless it is hitched to a bigger tire. If you run a slick on a Busa, THEN it will need a lower first gear.
To take this argument to the extreme, as Dr Busa did, would it improve the Busa's short time to install gears that got you to the top of third at the sixty foot mark?
In a drag, gears are a necessary evil. They compensate somewhat for the engine's inability to turn the wheels with sufficient torque to break them loose. Using gears prevents the engine from staying exactly at peak power production for the whole run. But in the first gear part of your run on a Busa, and for the first part of second, you CAN stay near peak power RPM by using the clutch.
Once the tires hook right up, you're leaning on your gears to compensate for a weak engine.
The right first gear should take you to the point where your engine no longer has the power to overcome traction, and the Busa first gear does not take you to that point.
The Busa is probably geared quite nicely for the short run for most riders and for the stock clutch. A shorter first gear would only force an earlier shift and therefore MORE shifts down the track.
Any holes in that?
Whaddayagot to say, or am I too naive to deserve a detailed reply?
Make your points and let's discuss.
The ideal drag machine will have its engine exactly on the RPM that give perfect peak power production for the whole run, with no variation in revs at all. It will also keep its tires just south of traction loss for the whole run.
Therefore the ideal drag machine would never shift a gear and never spin a tire.
To accomplish this, the ideal drag machine would produce enough power...without a transmission to necessitate a shift...to break loose the largest possible tires at any point in the run until it was precisely at the traps. It would have to use a clutch to modulate power to the wheels and that clutch would have to slip to dissipate excess power as heat for the whole run and then lock up exactly at the traps.
Now think of that same run in terms of a Busas' first gear run.
The Busa is not the ideal drag machine, partially because of it's crap power-to-weight ratio and partially because of the tire most of us run it on.
But the Busa does have what it takes to BEHAVE like the ideal drag machine for the period of time that it enjoys a power-to-weight-to-traction ratio that allows it to spin the tire at will, i.e. up to about 90 mph.
During this period, having a lower gear will only force an earlier shift. It WILL NOT provide more forward force unless it is hitched to a bigger tire. If you run a slick on a Busa, THEN it will need a lower first gear.
To take this argument to the extreme, as Dr Busa did, would it improve the Busa's short time to install gears that got you to the top of third at the sixty foot mark?
In a drag, gears are a necessary evil. They compensate somewhat for the engine's inability to turn the wheels with sufficient torque to break them loose. Using gears prevents the engine from staying exactly at peak power production for the whole run. But in the first gear part of your run on a Busa, and for the first part of second, you CAN stay near peak power RPM by using the clutch.
Once the tires hook right up, you're leaning on your gears to compensate for a weak engine.
The right first gear should take you to the point where your engine no longer has the power to overcome traction, and the Busa first gear does not take you to that point.
The Busa is probably geared quite nicely for the short run for most riders and for the stock clutch. A shorter first gear would only force an earlier shift and therefore MORE shifts down the track.
Any holes in that?
