Why are some cars torque limited at lower gears?

Clarkey · 2 Feb 2013 at 19:57

I looked it up in case I was surprised. I was not surprised, it has 115ft lb, hardly drivetrain shattering is it.

chaparral · 2 Feb 2013 at 20:02

Clarkey said:
I looked it up in case I was surprised. I was not surprised, it has 115ft lb, hardly drivetrain shattering is it.

I broken a driveshaft in a car with far less torque then that..

Firestar_3x · 2 Feb 2013 at 20:13

Clarkey said:
I looked it up in case I was surprised. I was not surprised, it has 115ft lb, hardly drivetrain shattering is it.

What an odd comment.

Clearly the drivetrain of a 1.7 puma is designed to take the power at hand, not 300ft lbs, so it's all relative.

Matt82 · 2 Feb 2013 at 20:17

Are we torqueing about the impulse/shock of torque you can get if you're careless with the clutch?

Jonnycoupe · 2 Feb 2013 at 20:27

Clarkey said:
I looked it up in case I was surprised. I was not surprised, it has 115ft lb, hardly drivetrain shattering is it.

Now try the tractive effort on the shaft in first gear with decent tyres...

Like mentioned if the Ford guys wanted a carryover Ka driveshaft then limiting first would give the robustness without taking a piece cost hit specing higher rated driveshafts from their suppliers.

Simon · 2 Feb 2013 at 20:45

Gearboxes are torque multipliers too.

The Running Man · 2 Feb 2013 at 20:50

Matt82 said:
the most awesome thing about driving an MR2 was adapting your right foot to work as a boost control rather than a throttle control. youd have to feather the pressure onto the throttle as you were exiting a corner, as the pressure increased you heard the note changing of the rushing air. really fine delicate (life dependant) inputs

ace cars and i dont know why theyre not more highly rated

Definitely, its difficult to find an inbetween I just hold it, grin, turn the corner and as soon as im 9/10 straight control the boost until im straight and then nail it and grin some more. Only when I get the chance, which is not often to be fair with the roads and traffic around here. Gear boxes are strong and rev 3 turbos come with LSD as standard with factory option TRD diffs also available. Prior revs had option lsd.