Mark makes an interesting point.
The IAME people recommend 15k rpm max. I may be wrong here, but the Leopard reaches max hp before 15k. If that’s so, there’s little point in twisting a Leopard beyond that. You want to gear your motor to run at peak hp most of the time, not necessarily peak rpm.
Where does a Sonik make best HP, and how much does it make?
@Marc Elliott wrote:
Jeff, a Sonik revs up to 18000+, 15000 is where you will get 20+hours on a piston if you do not exceed the 15k mark. The IAME Parilla boys recomend that 15k be the maximum rev that the leopard goes for the long life deal. The leopard manuel shows ratios that had the engine in excess of 17500, it is your choice to rev the motor to the moon, there is no need to unless its racing time to rev an engine like that. To bring this into perspective, I believe all TaG motors but the Vortex and Rotax do not have restrictions before , the revs are your choice. The Leopard does not require you to run that high to be competitive, if you have only enough gear to get to 15000, it will still be super competitive, just not in the corners, but it will haul down that straightaway like it has boosters. The Sonik has more top end down the straight, the only definite experiance I have w/ a Sonik was at IMI on a test day, the driver in the Sonik was probably 20+lbs lighter than me and tuned a little better, even with race weight, I still would kill the thing in the corners, but he would always pass me on the straights. If i wanted extreme overkill, I could do the same, but its only testing. In my opinion, the best “TaG” motors are the Leopard due to the popularity, parts, service and great power (not to mention the almost zero battery maintanace) and the Sonik because it is basically an ICA with a battery and 18 more CCs. Plus no silly seal for both, if the Sonik had more dealers in the USA, it would be a more popular package.