GPL: Oval gearing

I was in a Homestead race the other day and managed to blow my Eagle. So I decided to watch the fast guys and noticed that they ran the whole race in 5th. Is this the best strategy. Previously I have been dropping one or two gears for the corners but I was nearly a second down on their laptimes although I seemed to exit T2 and T4 faster. I guess with ovals the corners are a much more significant part of the course than they are with road circuits, and thus the time it takes you to get around the corners becomes more important. Also I guess that if you never change gear, then you're much less likely to blow up. Cheers, Paul

Hi Paul... I don't have Homestead, but I do use only fourth at Loudon... I ran Phoenix once, and I think I downshifted for Turn 1... but I can't remember! :-) I do find that it can often be better to stay in one gear, not only for the blown engine reason you mention, but it is easier to be smooth when gearchanges are *not* involved. And ovals are ALL about smoothness. -_Dave

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> I was in a Homestead race the other day and managed to blow my Eagle. So > I decided to watch the fast guys and noticed that they ran the whole > race in 5th. Is this the best strategy. Previously I have been dropping > one or two gears for the corners but I was nearly a second down on their > laptimes although I seemed to exit T2 and T4 faster. I guess with ovals > the corners are a much more significant part of the course than they are > with road circuits, and thus the time it takes you to get around the > corners becomes more important. Also I guess that if you never change > gear, then you're much less likely to blow up. > Cheers, > Paul

-- Dave Schwabe The Aussie Toad -- Grand Prix Legends & Brabham site http://users.wi.net/~schwabe

Which gear don't matter. The important thing about oval racing is staying in one gear which uses the power part of the bandwidth across the rev range of the engine. At Loudon I have found the Ferrari to be very good with its power range across the middle of the rev range. Anyway my 4pennies worth. NOTE: I can do constant laps with this car of around 30.5 seconds a lap. by the way, you need an asymetric setup for ovals! Alan

Just for fun, after I had crashed, I watched how the AI "Jim Clark" was driving the short oval of Phoenix. After the start he drove his Lotus constantly in 3dr gear! And he was really fast! (My settings were "short advanced") Arto

I only have Loudon but i run one gear the whole time. With an 8:1 diff ratio i use 5th gear at about 4.75-4.8 in the Eagle. Ran an 80 lap race the other day and didnt blow up. Managed a 3rd place finish too after Hill and Clark both dropped (famous Lotus engine blow up). Chris