Funny you should ask, I had a long chat with Ken Gillanders at BFE about
that this morning. Not specifically Road Atlanta, but the tracks where I've
been lifting to keep from over revving. The big question seems to be--what's
in your motor. I've been considering 7200 RPM to be my redline and truth be
told I get all squirmy at 6800. That means at two tracks I run a lot I'm
lifting about 2/3rds of the way down the straight (or listen to my rev
limiter make the engine sound like it's gagging). But I have a steel crank,
Carillo rods, good valve springs, forged pistons, light flywheel and clutch
with eight ARP bolts and two dowels. Pshaw says Ken, it's fine at 8000.
Yikes!
Well, it's not Ken's first rodeo, so I'm going to listen to him and swap out
my 7200 RPM rev limiter for an 8000 chip, and squeeze my knees together real
tight at the end of the straight. That means my 4.1 is just fine and I can
power out of those tight corners in second.
I suspect your 4.1 is fine.
Bill Babcock
Babcock & Jenkins
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-fot@Autox.Team.Net [mailto:owner-fot@Autox.Team.Net] On Behalf
Of yellowandgreen@comcast.net
Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 4:31 PM
To: fot@Autox.Team.Net
Subject: Road Atlanta Gear Ratio
Dennis DeLap here in the frozen midwest................
I am surrounded by Triumph parts - with my TR4 in construction and my TR3 in
race prep mode for the "Mitty" at Road Atlanta - I just hope that I can keep
everything organized. A common thread these days for my two Triumphs is the
rear axle. In preparation for the Southwick conversion on the 4 I have just,
this past Saturday, spent the day with my local Triumph club members at our
annual rear end clinic. The stock open diff was replaced with a Detroit
Locker - I used the 3.73 ring and pinion that was there, reshimmed,
preloaded, all the fun stuff, then broke it back down for the trip to
Geneseo.
I would like to do a similar teardown on the rear axle that is in my 3. This
axle has been Southwick converted already, and I believe that it is time to
check for wear.
So my question for the GROUP is this - Which gear ratio would be better for
Road Atlanta? Currently the car has the 4.1 which is leftover from when an
overdrive transmission was installed. I have no plans for replacing the
overdrive so would the 3.73 be better at this point?
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