forgot to comment on the gearing post last night. I doubt i will express my argument in it's entirety as im pressed for time and walking out the door soon.....

but in terms of drag racing or acceleration, the argument you present is correct in theory.... but it doesnt factor in mechanical limitations. One thing that makes the SR20 great is it's long smooth climb through the RPM. As the car begins to move, the stress transferred through the body lightens and during the course of acceleration the SR20 climbs in power steadily. If you launched on a 1000hp diesel engine that was geared to do 200mph, you would either A break or B have a transmission/gearbox heavy duty enough that the weight and resistance of it would hinder your speed.

The worlds fastest diesel makes 1800lbs of torque to run nearly the exact same time as the SR20 outlaw street car. The diesel is a rail. I would imagine that power plant in a real car chassis would probably spit the axles into the 7th row of the stands or do nothing but spin. Same reason that semis have so many gears.

For road racing application, those cars spend the entire race in motion. They dont deal with the initial drivetrain shock like a drag car does. As you stated previously..... if we were talking about the best engine for a different application.... IE road racing, hill climbing.. nascar or whatever..... that would completely change the argument. For the purpose of simplicity, and since it's what i know.... i'm limiting my argument to drag racing/power/acceleration