[DavidNJ]

Well, I can't match your experience. However (I love those howevers), this contest is over 61% of the engine speed range, vs. 25-40% for a typical race engine. Peaking 5% from the top at the expense of the bottom 20 percent may be to much of a trade-off. I'm surprised that the torque peaks on my analysis are at 4750. I was expecting closer to 4000, more like a Viper.

The rules also added torque and power. In a race engine, I'm only looking for power...the gearing handles turning it to 'torque'. Here, they add both. So, those low engine speeds are more important then they should be. 5 lbf-ft at 2500 is only 2.5hp, vs 6 hp at 6300. 2.5x the power. But since the torque counts that is 7.5 vs 8.5. Only 13% more. And since the engine would be losing ti over 2000 rpm, vs gaining it over 1000...it isn't as clear.

BTW, are you going to get 434 the extreme way: 4.44 x 3.5?