Jeep and "gee-whiz technology" don't belong in the same discussion :-)
Twin-clutch transmissions are semi-automatic or full automatic transmissions that don't have a torque converter (which is one of the biggest sources of power loss in an automatic transmission). You need computer-controlled transmissions to make them usable, so although they were seen in performance cars in the 80s (the Porsche 956 & 962 in sports car racing, and the equally dominant Audi Quattro rally car), it's only recently that they showed up in cars in the showroom. They are mostly to be found in high- end performance marques (Bugatti, Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, . . .), but Ford and VW use them in models for the consumer marketplace. The benefit, for performance cars, is the very fast shift times that are possible (1/10 of a second or less). On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 04:55:19PM -0700, Sandra Hermann wrote: > Why in the world would you need more than one clutch? Isn't one bad enough? > > JG > P.s. I think Jeeps may be a great topic..... > > > ?Help me support Autism research!? Join my > team!??http://www.walknowforautism.org/stlouis/blubiconsbuddies > ?http://stampmine.blogspot.com/http://samsphotopage.blogspot.com/? > > > --- On Fri, 10/30/09, John Francis <[email protected]> wrote: > > > From: John Francis <[email protected]> > > Subject: Re: OT: Car buffs, help needed > > To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List" <[email protected]> > > Date: Friday, October 30, 2009, 3:31 PM > > On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 04:13:55PM > > -0400, paul stenquist wrote: > > > What's the latest gee-whiz technology in the auto biz. > > Looking for? > > > topics that are unusual and somewhat obscure. For > > example the ceramic? > > > brake disc is potentially a good topic, the hydrogen > > fuel cell? is? > > > probably not. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. > > > > The place to look for cutting-edge technology is often in > > racing, > > and typically in F1 and/or WRC. > > > > Currently F1 is using carbon/carbon brakes - ceramics are > > old hat. > > > > If you're looking for technology that's just beginning to > > show up > > in cars driven by mere mortals, twin-clutch transmisssions > > might > > be worth taking a look at. > > > > > > -- > > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > > [email protected] > > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link > > directly above and follow the directions. > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
