I used to be of the opinion that you went with gears that would put you at the top of the power band in a 1:1 transmission gear for at the track. That flat out is not correct with a turbo car. I can say that from not only my experience but from my tuners experience with any turbo car from a total street car to a 6 second car. I trapped 131 mph with 3.73's in the car. I had an automatic. Same exact setup, tune, etc and went with 3.55's and it trapped 146. Went to 3.31's (because I couldn't believe that going to 3.27's would have been good...ie brainwashed over the years about gears) and it trapped 151, again, exact tune with same boost level. I had larger turbos on the car and they were terrible to get to spool with 3.73's. The switch to 3.55's was amazing and to 3.31's was still very noticeable by the seat of the pants.
What we have to realize with a small 281" engine is that they are all turbo. Load the hell out of it and let the turbo (s) do the work. For anyone that doesn't believe this, try it. Go to the track with 3.73's and then put in 3.27's and give it an honest unbias effort and you'll be amazed. Doesn't sound like it makes sense but it definitely is a big difference.
10 years ago or more, when turbos started appearing regularly in SSO and Pro 50, they weren't all that much faster if at all than their supercharged or nitrous competition. That was because they were installed on the same setup as previous with a supercharger or nitrous. Once they started playing around with them, one of the big things was gearing. It is relevant what MMR said as it shows the difference in setup from a supercharged car to a turbo car. As MMR stated, look at the gears they run. Remember, that's on a big tire too. I realize you have to have the mechanical ability to go 200 mph through air but the supercharged, nitrous, and naturally aspirated cars aren't running those gears.
You have to load the engine to get the turbos to spool. Just do a burnout and you'll see. You probably won't even hear the turbo during the burnout unless you let the rpm come down a bit and let the tires start to grab a bit. Then you'll hear the turbo start to whistle away as the engine gets loaded and you'll feel the power come one.
I would say, in a 700 rwhp setup with a 6 speed, I would start with 3.55's and try 3.31's. In an automatic setup, 3.31's for sure. More power, say 900-1000 rwhp, I would go right to 3.27's and maybe even 3.08's with a loose converter automatic. Just my .02 cents.
What we have to realize with a small 281" engine is that they are all turbo. Load the hell out of it and let the turbo (s) do the work. For anyone that doesn't believe this, try it. Go to the track with 3.73's and then put in 3.27's and give it an honest unbias effort and you'll be amazed. Doesn't sound like it makes sense but it definitely is a big difference.
10 years ago or more, when turbos started appearing regularly in SSO and Pro 50, they weren't all that much faster if at all than their supercharged or nitrous competition. That was because they were installed on the same setup as previous with a supercharger or nitrous. Once they started playing around with them, one of the big things was gearing. It is relevant what MMR said as it shows the difference in setup from a supercharged car to a turbo car. As MMR stated, look at the gears they run. Remember, that's on a big tire too. I realize you have to have the mechanical ability to go 200 mph through air but the supercharged, nitrous, and naturally aspirated cars aren't running those gears.
You have to load the engine to get the turbos to spool. Just do a burnout and you'll see. You probably won't even hear the turbo during the burnout unless you let the rpm come down a bit and let the tires start to grab a bit. Then you'll hear the turbo start to whistle away as the engine gets loaded and you'll feel the power come one.
I would say, in a 700 rwhp setup with a 6 speed, I would start with 3.55's and try 3.31's. In an automatic setup, 3.31's for sure. More power, say 900-1000 rwhp, I would go right to 3.27's and maybe even 3.08's with a loose converter automatic. Just my .02 cents.
