Why does it sound better in 5th?

[donatien]

Somewhat subjective question really, but if you're on, erm...an airfield at say 80 and you boot it in 5th to my mind you get a much more rewarding noise as it winds up than in 4th.

May just be different induction noise, but the whole engine seems to deepen and sound more meaningful.

Dave

[GreenV8S]

Dunno, but at a given speed you're at lower revs in fifth (duh!) and maybe yours is just on cam at those particular revs. For instance, 90 in fifth would work out somewhere round 3000 rpm, which is heading towards peak torque (at somewhere round 3500 - 4000 at a guess?).

Edited to add at the same 90 mph in fourth you're probably past peak torque.

>> Edited by GreenV8S on Friday 2nd May 22:22

[donatien]

Well mine shows about 85 mph@3000rpm (5th obviously) so if peak torque is say 3000 that would fit in; given a flattish torque curve from there until death it may just be I get longer to enjoy it. If the torque is doing the work it sounds so much better than caning it high up.

I still find it amazing how you can sit in 5th and the Griff can pull from 80 up to 140 and just demolish the 20mph increments.

[Painey]

Know what you mean about putting your foot down in fifth and the needle flying round. Last week I did exactly that at about 90 on the A23 coming out of Brighton with some guy trying to get in my boot in a Skyline. A short while later I was doing 140 with the Nissan in the distance and me rather worried about my licence! Not the cleverest thing to do but on an empty road on a bright sunny day it was great fun!

[lazyitus]

Donatien. I know what you mean. It sounds much more 'Throaty' in 5th. A friend of mine thought it sounded like being in a Nascar !

[Alex]

I would guess that it is because in a higher gear the engine is under more load.