Came across an interesting article in "Racecar Engineering." Apparently a UK company has developed a new transmission called the "ZeroShift" that allows for gear changes to be made "not only without cutting the engines power, but also without breaking drive to the road." It is not a sequential shift transmission but something apparently very radically new. So far they have tested it on a TVR Cerbera with good results. This magazine was so taken with it, that they said ... "ZeroShift has the potential to revolutionise automotive transmissions to the point where, putting our necks on the line here, it is resonable to expect that in 10 years time every car in the world will be built with a gearbox operating on the ZeroShift principal." If anyone is interested in reading the artical, it is in the February edition. It is complete with graphs showing Longitudinal g force comparisons, Longitudinal acceleration during upshifts and engine speeds and acceleration during upshifts. It sounds like a great transmission. Chad ... how about it. You want to be the first to put it into a TT?

 

Here's a link to a .pdf of the article.

 

Bob,

Is that a free offer to test? If so, the answer is yes.

 

They don't explain how it works.

 

I'll go out on a limb here. I think their zero shift time is accurate because the car never shifts. It's gotta be a CVT design (Continuously Variable Transmission). In regards to the CVT design, there's lots of reference material.

 

No, the article specifically says it can be applied as a modification
to a standard transmission, like a Borg Warner, and that the
gearbox's gears are retained . It can't be a CVT. It is just
something that changes gears without losing torque transfer.

 

Even if there is some mechanical trickery in play that allows the next gear to be presynced and engaged at the exact moment the current gear is disengaged (I can see this as possible), there is still a measurable period of time where the engine must transition from high RPM to lower RPM. That won't happen instantaneously.

That inavoidable transition is still suboptimal, although I'll admit that if they indeed to have this mechanical trickery working, it does represent a very notable advantage over "typical" means of shifting.

Call me a skeptic, but that's my neophyte's take on it.