The Old Manual vs Automatic Debate
Discussion
For those of you with nothing better to do read
www.sae.org/automag/features/transopt/index.htm
Well I thought it was interesting.....
www.sae.org/automag/features/transopt/index.htm
Well I thought it was interesting.....
Interesting but a bit stuffy, clearly translated from german.
ZF are a gear and transmission company and to me their thinking seems to be restricted by that. They point out how the various gear configurations are best sited to particular engine groups. The real radical thinkers are looking at engine characteristics and wondering how they can be altered to optimise efficiency.
Duckworth turned around conventional thinking by saying that given a free rein to design a racing engine he would use a piston engine as a gas generator to power a turbine which inturn would be conected to a differential with no gearbox to get in the way.
If an engine can be configured to run at a constant speed it can be optimised to produce the very best combination of power, torque and thermal efficiency. Sound and vibration can be 'tuned out' and cooling can be far less compromised than in a system where coolant circulation and fan speed are greatly variable. That optimised engine could then work through a CVT that would have to cope with fewer variables....etc, etc.
It would be interesting to see an equivalent paper penned by an engine designer.
During the 1960's there was a transmission called the Hobbs Manumatic, light, efficient, sporty and with low power loss, it was almost adopted by a major motor co who could have produced it for around the same cost as a manual, alas vested interests sunk it but not before it was raced fitted to a 1.4 litre Lotus Elite which remained fully competitive inspite of its miniscule engine. A few were sold, a friend fitted one to a Ford Corsair GT, it was without doubt the best bit of that particular car.
ZF are a gear and transmission company and to me their thinking seems to be restricted by that. They point out how the various gear configurations are best sited to particular engine groups. The real radical thinkers are looking at engine characteristics and wondering how they can be altered to optimise efficiency.
Duckworth turned around conventional thinking by saying that given a free rein to design a racing engine he would use a piston engine as a gas generator to power a turbine which inturn would be conected to a differential with no gearbox to get in the way.
If an engine can be configured to run at a constant speed it can be optimised to produce the very best combination of power, torque and thermal efficiency. Sound and vibration can be 'tuned out' and cooling can be far less compromised than in a system where coolant circulation and fan speed are greatly variable. That optimised engine could then work through a CVT that would have to cope with fewer variables....etc, etc.
It would be interesting to see an equivalent paper penned by an engine designer.
During the 1960's there was a transmission called the Hobbs Manumatic, light, efficient, sporty and with low power loss, it was almost adopted by a major motor co who could have produced it for around the same cost as a manual, alas vested interests sunk it but not before it was raced fitted to a 1.4 litre Lotus Elite which remained fully competitive inspite of its miniscule engine. A few were sold, a friend fitted one to a Ford Corsair GT, it was without doubt the best bit of that particular car.
Ford gave Mr Hobbs some money, printed a few leaflets with the box as an option for the Cortina GT and then, allegedly, Borg Warner said they wouldn't be able to provide type 35 transmissions for mainstream Fords if the Hobbs caught on. It went quiet for a while and then from time to time various companies were going to make it but none did.
You could buy spares but the Corsair never needed any. I remember being a passenger in the Corsair which was following a Hillman Husky towards the Sevenoaks bypass, we didn't notice the Saltaire painted on the roof or the wide alloys. When we reached the bypass our intrepid pilot pulled out and gunned the Ford, by that time Mr Fraser (for it is that renowned pilot that I believe to be the driver) had gunned the Husky and was just a dot on the horizon. Discovered later that the Huskey was built on the remains of a 4.7 litre ex Le Mans Tiger, a car with which the Huskey shared a floor pan, mind you the gearbox in the Ford behaved with great dignity, more than could be said for the driver!
>> Edited by gnomesmith on Sunday 4th August 02:06
You could buy spares but the Corsair never needed any. I remember being a passenger in the Corsair which was following a Hillman Husky towards the Sevenoaks bypass, we didn't notice the Saltaire painted on the roof or the wide alloys. When we reached the bypass our intrepid pilot pulled out and gunned the Ford, by that time Mr Fraser (for it is that renowned pilot that I believe to be the driver) had gunned the Husky and was just a dot on the horizon. Discovered later that the Huskey was built on the remains of a 4.7 litre ex Le Mans Tiger, a car with which the Huskey shared a floor pan, mind you the gearbox in the Ford behaved with great dignity, more than could be said for the driver!
>> Edited by gnomesmith on Sunday 4th August 02:06
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