tripleblack

In the example, the results were about the same for the gears/nitrous equation, although including the 20# weight of the nitrous rig would tip the scales ever so slightly in favor of the gears... All dependent on the real world power gained, of course. Nitrous results are influenced by nozzle size, fuel pressure/delivery and lots of good tuning to extract the power. A 50 shot would not equal gears, whereas a 125 shot might be a shade more for your money. Gears are pretty simple, so the equation is pretty stable when looking at them, including seeing what happens when you plug in 2nd gear, 3rd, etc., depending on which is more important to your application. A better overall average could be achieved by running the comparison in all the gears you cover in a typical quarter mile run, if that is the place you plan to orient your car towards... Add them together and weight them as you like, depending on the amount of time you spend in each gear. This is also a way to evaluate strategy - what acceleration would I gain by spending more time in a given gear, etc?

Of course, as has been pointed out, hp that doesn't reach the ground (traction limit) doesn't do you any good. If you raise your power levels beyond your car's ability to use the power, without increasing your chances of hooking up, you are entering the realm of "dyno racing", which like the older "bench racing", can be fun, but proves little.

Also, gears are always "on", and never suffer from an empty bottle.

tripleblack