Can someone explain to me what this means? What is the significance of this??

 

means (i believe) the engine turns 3.73 times when the tire turns only 1 time. the bigger then number/ratio,the more acceleration u will have,but will cut down in ur top end.
hope this helps

 

yeah say your gear ratio is a 3:23 you engine turns 3.23 times everytime your tire turns once! the higher the number the lower the gear is like a 4:10 is a pretty low gear for a street car and a 2:77 is a high gear!

 

This may be a stupid question, but I've never been able to fully understand this whole gear ratio thing. If the engine has to spin more revolutions with a lower gear to get the tires to spin one revolution, why is it that cars with lower gears are supposed to be faster in shorter distances?

 

Though I am far from an expert, here is my undetstanding. Someone correct me if I am putting the cart before the horse, but gears act as a multiplier. A lower gear (3.73) will put 35% more power down then a 2.77 gear. This allows better acceleration and allows the engine to rev up fater. This obviously limits the top end, so a careful selection is required.

 

so, while we're on this topic, I went from 3.45s to 3.73s. Although there isn't a huge difference between them (not like going from 3.08s to 3.42s), in a sense, I have made the car slightly faster by putting more power to the ground?

 

actually,your car has a slower top end,but more acceleration which will make it feel faster.

 

yeah, thats what I meant. Just out of curiosity, how much top end do you think I've lost? With the 3.45s I was able to bury the speedo to 145, now I'm guessing 120, maybe 130