[Land-speed] Cam Gear Drives

[Kirkwood]

In the old days (after the flathead) the ubiquitous SBC was the engine of
choice in circle track racing. That environment was a killer of stock timing
chains. When a chain broke it was not a matter of simply replacing a $19.95
chain. With a high compression motor a broken chain always resulted in a
piston-to-valve collision! That $19 part turned into hundreds of dollars for
repairs! When the $39 Cloyes roller came out it was supposed to be a fix.
Not!  The gear drive was created for durability in an abusive environment
and nothing more. Regardless of advertising swill, I have not seen any good
data clearly showing increased precision or efficiency over a roller chain.
Although, engineering tests have shown precision gear systems may possibly
have better efficiency that a chain it has never been demonstrated for
currently manufactured timing gears.