Of course all of this is only my opinion. Others may disagree.
There is so much more to winning races than just working out gearing. That's very true.
And clearly, I am not the fastest racer in the world. After 40 years of racing I only have one single Australian Championship to show for all my efforts. Mind you I have never had a sponsor and raced on a shoestring budget.
This is how I arrange my transmission sprockets, Two of them are not on that tree as they are on race bikes at the moment. Along with the transmission sprockets I have chains for each gear. The chain boxes are marked for each gear set as in 19T/51T so changes can be made easily and quickly.
[img]
http://www.xlch.com.au/images/Gear%20Box%201.JPG[/img]
I have very little to go on other than my own racing experience. I just remember it was all "Secret Men's Business" when I first started racing and nobody offered gearing (or any other) advice to me.
How do I post images inline ?