Did you read Dave Coleman's "Technobabble" column in Sport Compact Car a few
months ago? That's exactly what he talked about - how car manufacturers are
gearing the cars to hit 60 at the top of 2nd regardless of how that affects
real-world performance by screwing up the gear spacing.
Gordon Glasgow
Renton, WA
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net
> [mailto:owner-datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of John F
> Sandhoff
> Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 11:04 AM
> To: datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net
> Subject: Going OT: Re: holy Six speed batman
>
>
> It was written:
>
> > They dont make gearboxes close ratio anymore...
>
> > A final gear ratio around 2.90:1 would
> > make it possible to reach 60 mph in second at 6000 rpm...
>
> It isn't about performance or driveability any more, it's about
> marketing.
>
> One of the 'holy grail' numbers that consumers base their decisions
> on is '0-60 times'. But unfortunately, when you truly think about it 0-60
> times are pretty bogus in most cases. Consider: Off-the-line stoplight
> launches are about what, 0-20 or 0-30? Autocross isn't about
> acceleration nearly as much as about staying in the RPM 'sweet spot'.
> Autobahn contests are about top end, as long as you achieve it in a
> reasonable time.
>
> But car performance must be distilled into some simple one-step
> comparison for the clueless consumer. Thus manufacturers now
> design the gearboxes so they only need ONE shift to get 0-60.
> Heaven forbid you need to shift twice, costing a few tenths of a
> second! And never mind if the ratios absolutely suck for real-world
> use, just make sure that precious 0-60 range fits within the first two
> gears.
>
> -- John
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