Gear bound

[bignip1]

I have heard this a couple of times what is my car was gear bound what does this mean

[Matt49]

It usually means you're running out of motor before you run out of straight away. Meaning if you could have had a lower final ratio, you would have had more top end speed and you would have been making better use of the motor's power band.
But I also heard people use this term and then I came to find out that they meant just the opposite. They were so far off on gear (too low final ratio) that the car wouldn't get off the corners.

[powerslide]

When i say it or hear it used it's like matt's first example. The motor has nosed over and is falling on its face and other cars may gain a car length or two on you towards the end of the straight. You should be able to drive in deeper w/ it geared that way. Just have to find the happy medium where you arent giving up too much speed at the end of the straights.

[swingarm4life]

Crate motors are notorious for being gear bound. We put so much gear in them to get their lazy a$$e$$ off the corner, we forget about what negative effects it may have a little further down the straights. For the Turkey 100 in Swainsboro last year we started out on a 588 turning 6800-6900, so I put a 575 in and it still turned 6800-6900. So I put a 575 in and the same thing happened. I ended running a 556 to get it to 6700. Youre taking gear out to pick up some speed on the other end, that extra speed on the other end picks the rpm back up to where it needs to be.