Video of the FW15C with CVT

[Tony1963]

I didn’t know any video existed!

Apologies if already posted, but I searched and found nothing.

Weird. Weird weird weird!

https://youtu.be/P0lWdUXwVJs

[Sandpit Steve]

Very cool video, knew vaguely of the project but didn’t know that a video existed of it testing. That would have made one hell of a noise, with the old V10s and V12s running at high revs for the whole lap.

Fast forward to 2023, and now my wife has a CVT in her daily runabout Mitshibishi. Still feels slightly weird to get into it from a car with a more conventional manual or automatic gearbox.

[Tony1963]

For further interest on the CVT side of it, and it’s not just a rubber band!

https://youtu.be/b84mFiXWsog

[davidd]

That Williams sounds amazing.... Especially with no shifts.

[Tony1963]

davidd said:

That Williams sounds amazing.... Especially with no shifts.

Well, I think it would become tiresome after ten minutes of a race. I need, as do most race fans, to hear an engine on the over-run, and to hear gear-changes. And that’s one reason I love historic racing: proper gearboxes that the driver shifts around.

[PhilAsia]

davidd said:

That Williams sounds amazing.... Especially with no shifts.

A few hours of tinnitus....lovely!

[Stealthracer]

The video also serves to remind us how much better the cars looked then, than today. I'm guessing '94?

[mat205125]

Sandpit Steve said:

Very cool video, knew vaguely of the project but didn’t know that a video existed of it testing. That would have made one hell of a noise, with the old V10s and V12s running at high revs for the whole lap.

Fast forward to 2023, and now my wife has a CVT in her daily runabout Mitshibishi. Still feels slightly weird to get into it from a car with a more conventional manual or automatic gearbox.

The crazy thing is that nearly all road car CVT boxes are programmed to "shift" in chunks to emulate a regular manual/auto gear box with fixed ratios.

This defeats the benefits that a CVT could bring, and is done for no other reason than to avoid confusing or scaring the human organism away from a sale

[PhilAsia]

mat205125 said:

Sandpit Steve said:

Very cool video, knew vaguely of the project but didn’t know that a video existed of it testing. That would have made one hell of a noise, with the old V10s and V12s running at high revs for the whole lap.

Fast forward to 2023, and now my wife has a CVT in her daily runabout Mitshibishi. Still feels slightly weird to get into it from a car with a more conventional manual or automatic gearbox.

The crazy thing is that nearly all road car CVT boxes are programmed to "shift" in chunks to emulate a regular manual/auto gear box with fixed ratios.

This defeats the benefits that a CVT could bring, and is done for no other reason than to avoid confusing or scaring the human organism away from a sale

...and "creep"...

Expectation of what is normal I guess.

[Tony1963]

mat205125 said:

The crazy thing is that nearly all road car CVT boxes are programmed to "shift" in chunks to emulate a regular manual/auto gear box with fixed ratios.

This defeats the benefits that a CVT could bring, and is done for no other reason than to avoid confusing or scaring the human organism away from a sale

Some of the benefits, maybe. And making new or different tech acceptable to the end user is always necessary, otherwise you'll lose sales or spend a lot of time educating.

[f1eng]

mat205125 said:

The crazy thing is that nearly all road car CVT boxes are programmed to "shift" in chunks to emulate a regular manual/auto gear box with fixed ratios.

This defeats the benefits that a CVT could bring, and is done for no other reason than to avoid confusing or scaring the human organism away from a sale

I think the Toyotas are logical and Lexus offer the option of a conventional “feel”, perhaps they have older or more conservative buyers.
It really is bonkers to use a CVT to emulate fixed ratios

[Sandpit Steve]

mat205125 said:

Sandpit Steve said:

Very cool video, knew vaguely of the project but didn’t know that a video existed of it testing. That would have made one hell of a noise, with the old V10s and V12s running at high revs for the whole lap.

Fast forward to 2023, and now my wife has a CVT in her daily runabout Mitshibishi. Still feels slightly weird to get into it from a car with a more conventional manual or automatic gearbox.

The crazy thing is that nearly all road car CVT boxes are programmed to "shift" in chunks to emulate a regular manual/auto gear box with fixed ratios.

This defeats the benefits that a CVT could bring, and is done for no other reason than to avoid confusing or scaring the human organism away from a sale

Mine doesn’t ‘shift’, conventionally, in normal use, but it does have a manual over-ride that gives six ‘gears’. The only use I’ve found for it is engine braking coming up to a traffic light. Standing on the loud pedal, and watching the revs go almost to the red line - and stay right up there as the speed builds - was very weird initially, and took quite some getting used to!

[F1GTRUeno]

Worth noting that both CVT test cars have been on display in the Netherlands.

One in the DAF museum in Eindhoven, still on display.



The other at the ex-VDT (now owned by Bosch) factory back in the early 00's. Not a clue if it's still there.

Edited by F1GTRUeno on Friday 21st April 02:53

[carl_w]

F1GTRUeno said:

Worth noting that both CVT test cars have been on display in the Netherlands.

One in the DAF museum in Eindhoven, still on display.

I thought one was at the Williams museum?

[F1GTRUeno]

carl_w said:

I thought one was at the Williams museum?

Nope, they've got a 15C, 15D (Rothmans test car) and a 16B. No CVT car though.

[Pflanzgarten]

Can anyone remember a fiction book in the 1980s that revolved around CVT technology in F1, a bit of a murder mystery type of thing? I remember reading it when I was a kid?

[ApexCult]

Pflanzgarten said:

Can anyone remember a fiction book in the 1980s that revolved around CVT technology in F1, a bit of a murder mystery type of thing? I remember reading it when I was a kid?

Sounds like anti-CVT propaganda from McLaren!

[Stealthracer]

Pflanzgarten said:

Can anyone remember a fiction book in the 1980s that revolved around CVT technology in F1, a bit of a murder mystery type of thing? I remember reading it when I was a kid?

I believe it was Formula One by Bob Judd (Pan Macmillan, 1990). Dirt cheap on eBay if you're looking for a copy.

Even if I'm wrong, it was a cracking read.

BTW I believe Bob Judd is related in some way to John Judd the F1 engine designer.

[NNH]

Stealthracer said:

Pflanzgarten said:

Can anyone remember a fiction book in the 1980s that revolved around CVT technology in F1, a bit of a murder mystery type of thing? I remember reading it when I was a kid?

I believe it was Formula One by Bob Judd (Pan Macmillan, 1990). Dirt cheap on eBay if you're looking for a copy.

Even if I'm wrong, it was a cracking read.

BTW I believe Bob Judd is related in some way to John Judd the F1 engine designer.

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one nerdy enough to think of this!

[Pflanzgarten]

NNH said:

Stealthracer said:

Pflanzgarten said:

Can anyone remember a fiction book in the 1980s that revolved around CVT technology in F1, a bit of a murder mystery type of thing? I remember reading it when I was a kid?

I believe it was Formula One by Bob Judd (Pan Macmillan, 1990). Dirt cheap on eBay if you're looking for a copy.

Even if I'm wrong, it was a cracking read.

BTW I believe Bob Judd is related in some way to John Judd the F1 engine designer.

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one nerdy enough to think of this!

I’m 100% convinced there was a follow up although I seems to recall it not involving the same characters and being disappointed!