Pdk?
#1
04-18-2011, 02:41 PM
Pdk?
I currently have a 993 Carrera, which I've started to run on the track. I've seen Boxsters and Caymans do pretty well in the curves, and I just found out that some people have gone to the newer PDK auto/paddle shift, even for track use. They swear by this format, as it changes gears more quickly and smoothly than a manual. Some of the more traditional drivers kind of smirk at them, but I'm wondering if this technology is really good for the track, or just a way to avoid heel/toe shifting.
#2
04-18-2011, 08:14 PM
I'd select nothing but a PDK for the track, but not for the street.
Something like a PDK provides two advantages that can't be beat on the track. First, it shifts faster than any human can. Alot of people think they are fast but they average at least half a second, maybe up to seven tenths from first clutch dis-engage to full re-engage. The PDK can do it in about 1/5th to 1/8th the time. And the PDK never misses the revs, etc.
Second, shifting this fast makes it advantageous to have more gears. You don't waste much time shifting gears so you install seven, eight, even nine gears now, keeping the engine nearer the redline all the time (if you had to manually shift, you'd give up whatever you gain from more gears in more dead time between the greater number of manual shifts you have to make).
So on the track, the advantage is huge. You shift up and down alot. Over a lap, this gives what I consider an unbeatable advantage to the PDK car: its going to win, given near equal drivers, every time.
For impressive road test results, the PDK or similar provides another advantage that produces heroic test numbers in magainzes like R&T and C&D, the faster shifts cut about half a second to 60, but more, you can program "launch control" to optimally start the car from zero at maximum acceleration without wheelspin. Launch control is worth about 6/10ths to a second to 60 mph in a road test
For example, Car and Driver magazine's latest issue tests the new Audi TT at 3.6 seconds to 60. Wow! Its not that powerful, but . . . However, they note that the car can only do 5.2 seconds in a street start (5 to 60mph ) - and they estimate with a manual that it is only about a 5.0 second to 60 car. Fast, but its PDK like transmission is what provides the difference between that and what appear to be heroic numbers.
Trouble is, it will not feel, or be, in daily driving, nearly that fast -- it will be a 5.0 second to 60 car in how it feels, and because it has a PDK, not something you can shift straight from 2nd to 4th without going into and out of 3rd on the way.
This (and the looks) are why I bought on of the last two dozen F430s rather than the newer, more powerful, Ferrari 458. The 458 comes only with Ferrari's version of a PDK like transmission, and I wanted a pure street car. Although difficult to get, the F430 was available with a 6 speed manual and it makes for a very agreeable and pleasant street car, even if it is, with less weight and 150 more HP, only as fast to 60 as the Audi in a road test.
gears.
Something like a PDK provides two advantages that can't be beat on the track. First, it shifts faster than any human can. Alot of people think they are fast but they average at least half a second, maybe up to seven tenths from first clutch dis-engage to full re-engage. The PDK can do it in about 1/5th to 1/8th the time. And the PDK never misses the revs, etc.
Second, shifting this fast makes it advantageous to have more gears. You don't waste much time shifting gears so you install seven, eight, even nine gears now, keeping the engine nearer the redline all the time (if you had to manually shift, you'd give up whatever you gain from more gears in more dead time between the greater number of manual shifts you have to make).
So on the track, the advantage is huge. You shift up and down alot. Over a lap, this gives what I consider an unbeatable advantage to the PDK car: its going to win, given near equal drivers, every time.
For impressive road test results, the PDK or similar provides another advantage that produces heroic test numbers in magainzes like R&T and C&D, the faster shifts cut about half a second to 60, but more, you can program "launch control" to optimally start the car from zero at maximum acceleration without wheelspin. Launch control is worth about 6/10ths to a second to 60 mph in a road test
For example, Car and Driver magazine's latest issue tests the new Audi TT at 3.6 seconds to 60. Wow! Its not that powerful, but . . . However, they note that the car can only do 5.2 seconds in a street start (5 to 60mph ) - and they estimate with a manual that it is only about a 5.0 second to 60 car. Fast, but its PDK like transmission is what provides the difference between that and what appear to be heroic numbers.
Trouble is, it will not feel, or be, in daily driving, nearly that fast -- it will be a 5.0 second to 60 car in how it feels, and because it has a PDK, not something you can shift straight from 2nd to 4th without going into and out of 3rd on the way.
This (and the looks) are why I bought on of the last two dozen F430s rather than the newer, more powerful, Ferrari 458. The 458 comes only with Ferrari's version of a PDK like transmission, and I wanted a pure street car. Although difficult to get, the F430 was available with a 6 speed manual and it makes for a very agreeable and pleasant street car, even if it is, with less weight and 150 more HP, only as fast to 60 as the Audi in a road test.
gears.
#4
04-21-2011, 02:15 PM
Most cars come with some tax on, if this is the case, then you have no worries as the tax goes with the car, not the person. so it will not need taxing again until it runs out. if it is new it will have a years tax arranged by your dealer.
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