#1 72/10 = 7.20 gear ratio.
#2 60/15 = 4.0 gear ratio.
In all my years in karting, I’ve always called #1 a low gear ratio and #2 a high gear ratio. Why that is I can’t tell you. I can tell you this, when you put an automobile transmission selector in #1 position, it’s generally agreed that is called low gear. When you put the selector in “D”, that’s generally accepted as high gear when you get up to speed. Of course it starts out in #1, proceeds to #2 and then into “D”, called high gear.
The point of all this is to let you know that if you add teeth to the axle, it’s referred to as a lower gear ratio, when you add teeth to the driver, that is referred to as a higher gear ratio. Big ratio number, low ratio, little ratio number, high ratio.
I always get this confused for some reason. It’s true that 1 in a car is referred to as low gear.
Thread title looks like a hack. Literally. Either that, or a tall sip of Jim Beam.
I thought the same for a second.
Al this title should good better.
I don’t think of either as higher or lower ratio changing driver or driven. I look at what overall ratio I need for a particular track and change driven and/or driver gears to suit the track whilst achieving the overall ratio that gives me the best lap time.
For example, Dubai Kartdrome I typically run a 7.9:1 ratio - this can either be achieved by a 10 tooth driver and 79 tooth driven, or 11 tooth driver and 87 tooth driven. I might have used the latter at Al Ain where the kerbs are small, but go to Dubai I want the same ratio but the smallest driven gear as possible since the kerbs are brutal and have to be taken, so I use the former to get the smallest physical diameter sprocket on the axle, to reduce the likelihood of smashing the chain on a kerb.