In article >,
(Leon van Dommelen) wrote:

> >6th is not a cruising gear in the Mazdaspeed Miata.
>
> In none of the Miatas. Which is just a waste since the highest gears are
> useless anyway from a performance standpoint in a Miata.

That depends on your concept of performance. When I was trying to keep
up with the turbo crowd at the final Western Colorado Strafing Run,
fifth came in pretty handy when I ran out of rpm in fourth. At 6000
feet, a taller fifth would not have extended my speed past the limiter
in fourth, nor pulled the slightest uphill grade. Same thing at track
days.

I'd like to see some data that a taller top gear actually saves fuel,
given the Miata's utter lack of aerodynamic efficiency. I suspect the
only advantage would be a small reduction in noise. And not even that
with the top down.

--
Lanny Chambers
'94C, St. Louis
http://www.hummingbirds.net/alignment.html