Er... maybe...!
There are two types of strain you can put on a motor - mechanical load and electrical load. Gearing it too high is the mechanical load, changing the timing is the electrical load. Whichever method of overloading it you choose, the result is the motor will suffer from excess heat. That's a simplistic explanation, but it works. Experts may say more...!!
Reducing the motor timing for the same gear ratio will decrease both top speed and acceleration. You can swap electrical load for mechanical load, so if you reduce the timing but up the gear ratio (what I mean is gear up by reducing the ratio - 3:1 to 2:1 is gearing up, but as you can see the ratio reduces) then you will end up with a total load that is the same.
The big advantage of timing-on-the-fly speedos is that they give us much more power by altering the timing when the motor can handle it. The problem with altering the fixed timing is that the motor only has the 'right' timing at one point in its rev range. TOTF gives it the right timing throughout its range.
You need a balance between timing and gear ratio to get the best performance from your car. As a general rule, drop the gearing as you raise the timing (more timing - 2:1 to 3:1, less timing 3:1 to 2:1) and check your results against your lap time, not the temperature gauge. HTH
19-03-2012
Linear Mode
