Anyway, I have just had it properly explained to me by my Forumla 1 chum, so will say he's right instead (especially as he agrees with me! ).
It all comes down to what's called tractive effort. This is the force applied to the road by the wheel to cause movement.
It is caculated by by multiplying the torque by the total ratio of power train and dividing this sum by the rolling radius of the driving tyres.
As you can guess, if you reduce the total power train ratio (say moving from 1st to 2nd) it reduces the over TE figure meaning you are reducing the overall force applied to the road.
It is infinitly more technical way of looking at it than I was, but the result is the same. To get the best accelerating time you would need to calculate the optimum gearchange based on a vehicles power/torque/gear ratio/differential/tyre radius.
Personally, I think I'll just go and have a brew instead as it feels like I'm back at school!
Lesson number 1 - never argue with something Steve says about cars...
).
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