I race at 103rd in Jacksonville, Florida. We have a very long straight about 1000 feet. I am wondering is it good to hit the rev limiter at about 3/4 mark or gear kart to get close to rev limiter but not hitting it. I know in a draft kart picks up a few more rpms which will cause you to hit rev sooner.
Someone who knows the track could tell ya what’s common, there.
Short answer: it depends. A track could prioritize corner exit due to the majority of it being technical and it could be that gearing for that is more important for laptimes than Zooming down straight.
If no one wants to share, play around with it. See how it affects your times. You will also learn a lot about driving if you mess with gearing, thoughtfully. Imho the feel of a kart changes as you change the gearing.
You are in 206? I ran a 19/55 you could go up a couple in the rear if needed. Typically in 4 stroke you can max out the rpm about 3/4 of the way down the straight. But I know the back straight is really long.
You ran a 2.89 ratio at 103rd street and hit the limiter 3/4 of the way down the straight?!?!
2 Likes
Sorry should have clarified, didn’t hit it 3/4 down the straight. It was what was recommend to me. I stopped 206 and then learned it was quickest to max out the limiter 3/4 of the way down. The track is also basically one giant straight, you really only have to brake once a lap, you can carry so much speed. But I was still pretty quick with that ratio, but I know some people did 17 front instead of 19
Mike when you and I ran together, you were drag racing me down the straight and I couldn’t keep pace. But in the tighter sections, I was all over you. Once I got past you in the turns, I’m not sure if you ever got back up to me as I never saw you again. You might have been right behind me, but I never saw you. I remember wondering if I gapped you in the tight stuff enough that it didn’t matter how you were geared in the straights, as I already created a big enough gap where it didn’t matter 
My view (for whats its worth) is to gear for the tight section UNLESS I’m working with someone who I can draft with down that long straightaway. Personally I’m usually passing people on the right hand sweeper (when I see ppl’s karts tightening up) or in/around the area of the mini bowl. Usually I catch and/or pass going into the mini bowl, not necessarily upon exit (as that is the section I struggle with in terms of maintaining my exit speed). But the right hand sweeper is where my kart seems very happy when others are usually very upset.
I try to hit my rev limiter:
(non drafting) at about 3/4 down the straights
(Drafting) at about 2/3 down the straights
My .02 cents.
I dig running with my man, its alot of fun when I see you out there. I was rooting for you on that bonus race until you spun. Up and until then you were trucking 
Unsure how to full articulate my question but I’ll try. I understand that if your running a 11/78 as an example you are running a 7.09 ratio but does that have any relevance? Can (we) determine a gear ratio purely by looking at a track map? is there a target we should drive for? I’ve just never fully understood the importance of the “ratio” measurement.
Scenario being, I was speaking with another driver who runs a different engine class and when I mentioned my gearing they were in ahh about the ratio “wow a high ratio”. makes me think there is a science there. For myself, I just test the gear range and look at the data to see how my drive out of the corners are, straight speed, and actually how long I was at max speed, may drop a couple teeth to gain top line speed but if its only for a fraction of a second it may be worth more drive out of the corners. Once I determine the gearing… we you can work out a ratio… but I don’t know the importance of known that…
Can anyone comment on this? think my questions comes down to, is there a magic ratio we are looking for.
1 Like
I believe your understanding is very good. In over simplified terms, you want whatever ratio produces the result you want. There is no magic ratio for any track. There is no magic ratio for any one day. For example, I might gear 1 tooth higher for single kart qualifying than I would for a race because of the lack of draft even given all other conditions exactly the same. OR I might gear differently if I am qualified 25th vs if I am on the pole. This may be due to draft or it may be to utilize a passing zone or protect a different one.
Do what produces best on the stopwatch and/or the podium. Whatever the ratio ends up being is important to note/remember for next time, but the number itself means nothing.
I definitely enjoy racing with you. I have to figure out the mini bowl and hopefully then I will be faster.
I think at Wilmington we saw the extreme version of this with all of us on different ratios and stratigies. Overall lap time was nearly identical though just a track with 2 very different sections.
1 Like
At our local track, I can use a few different ratios and turn the same lap times. Chip, no chip, or extreme chip.
The difference is raceability like @fatboy1dh and @Ronald_Swift said.
There’s no magic bullet on chipping. You gotta use testing and race experience to find out what works for you.
I’m sure there’s been a few times where Derek wanted one more tooth or one less tooth to get under me sooner when I was holding him up. 
1 Like
This video is the perfect example of how you gear for the track/situation.
Watch how #30 pulls the field at the end of the straight. He geared for the passing zone. He was slower through the tighter stuff and very likely did not have the fastest lap of the race, but guess what? He won the race…
2 Likes
I know, I watched that race. Sean was rolling on the big straight.