McLaren’s new Sequential Shift Gearbox (SSG) for the MP4-12C sets a new standard
By Andrew, 11 May, 2011. 0 Comments
McLaren MP4-12C
McLaren has said that the new Sequential Shift Gearbox (SSG) for the MP4-12C weighs less and is more compact. Oerlikon Graziano, which supplied the SSG box, said that new standards are set for the refinement and durability of a Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT). Paolo Mantelli, the head of automotive transmissions at Oerlikon Graziano, said that McLaren has a “very clear understanding” of its brand and the variety of vehicles that it should build.
He added that this is shown in the technologies and innovations picked out for their powertrains. He said that the cars have to be “immensely fast and dynamically capable,” as well as be “comfortable, refined, efficient and a pleasure to drive every day.” He added that the company teamed up with McLaren Automotive’s engineers to come up with a new transmission that that will help to meet those goals. A supercar maker can rely on the DCT unit to provide smoothness and refinement as well as to make it possible to switch gears quickly with no torque interruption, meaning that acceleration will not be reduced.
“We wanted to achieve genuinely fast, smooth shifting without any of the ‘tricks’ that can be employed to make a DCT feel fast,” says Vocis managing director Mike Everitt, who’s team also calibrated the transmission. “The secret is to get the very best out of the whole control system with a highly-optimized interaction between the software and the hardware. This ensures that the responses are not just quick and accurate but are also consistent and progressive. That means rigorous attention to the fluid dynamics and to the design and calibration of the control algorithms, which are constructed using our proprietary architecture.”
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