Frank, how did the new gears go?

[Grantw]

Frank,

I read you had some dramas at the pajchallenge, but nevertheless how did the new gears rate? Did they live up the the expectations?

[Bitsamissin]

We ended up breaking a tie rod early in stage 2 so we were out of the comp. Yeah the 2.85 gears were sensational, made a huge difference.
The first hard track on stage 1 was an extremely steep winding goat track with very loose powdery dirt and rocks which seemed to go on forever. This was the first real test.
I was in 1st low pulling 2-2500rpm and going at walking pace. When the car felt like it was loosing grip just a blip on the throttle and let the lockers and Simex's do their stuff.
With the standard gearing I would have been screaming up there at 3-4000rpm bouncing around all over the place. It certainly takes a lot of the stress off the truck.
We heard on the radio there was a few recoveries on that hill so we were very happy to drive it first crack
A later steep track littered with basketball size bolders and ledges was easy as you like, just idled over stuff very slowly. With these gears you have much more torque down low so you don't need as many rpm's to keep the car moving and you have more instant power on tap
You just rest your foot against the kick panel and squeeze very gently on the throttle when required.