Holy Shift! Koenigsegg’s New Gearbox Is a 6-Sp Manual *and* a 9-Sp Automatic

Holy Shift! Koenigsegg’s New Gearbox Is a 6-Sp Manual *and* a 9-Sp Automatic

Holy Shift! Koenigsegg’s New Gearbox Is a 6-Sp Manual *and* a 9-Sp Automatic

The Koenigsegg CC850's remarkable gearbox is a cleverly evolved version of the nine-speed automated manual Light Speed Transmission (LST) fitted to the Koenigsegg Jesko. The technology is emblematic not just of Christian von Koenigsegg's knack for catchy product names, but, more important, of his irrepressibly left-field approach to hypercar engineering.

In the Jesko, you select the LST's gear ratios via paddles. The new iteration in the CC850 has no paddles. Instead, It's controlled via a shifter that sprouts from a classic slotted metal gate, and there's a clutch pedal on the left, too. But neither are connected to the physical transmission, and no clutch or flywheel are mated to the engine's crankshaft, either.

It's the world's first shift-by-wire manual transmission.

In manual mode, you select from six of the nine forward ratios; move the lever all the way to the right and pull backward, and the transmission operates as an automatic, shifting for itself and using all nine gears to funnel the CC850's massive 1,385 hpr (on E85 fuel) to the road.

Dual-clutch automatic transmissions used in most cars (hyper or otherwise) are programmed to essentially assume which gear the driver will want to select next. When the appropriate shift paddle is clicked or the computer determines it's time to shift, it simultaneously releases the clutch driving the gear you're shifting from while engaging the second clutch for the gear you're shifting to. It then moves the gearset to prepare what it thinks will be the next ratio needed.

Inside the Koenigsegg LST, however, no gearsets move. Instead, there are three shafts with two gears each, and they are all permanently engaged. Which combination of gears sends drive to the wheels is determined by opening and closing seven very compact clutches within the transmission.

Unlike in conventional dual-clutch transmissions, it's possible to go directly from, say, ninth to fifth without shuffling down through eighth, seventh, and sixth to get there. All the LST transmission does is open and close the relevant clutches, and bingo—you're instantly in the gear you want.

How does it work? We'll let the man himself explain. "It's a clutch-by-wire," von Koenigsegg said, "but you feel the pressure of the clutch through the pedal the same as with a traditional one. It's just electronically connected. You can go in and out of the point [where the clutch bites]. You can launch with revs. You can step off the pedal too quickly and stall the car. It feels no different than a normal clutch.

"The shifter was a bit more challenging because we don't have forks or synchros or anything in our LST transmission. All gears are always engaged. We're only clutching.

"Force-feedback mechanisms link the shifter to the clutch movement. If you want to pull out of a gear, you can't do that until you have a certain movement on your clutch pedal, like in a traditional car. If you want to shift into a gear that's too low, you can't get the shifter into the gate. If the gear is only a little bit too low, you feel a little resistance, like you would get from synchros.

"We still are in the process of developing it, but it's already crazy good. When we are done with it, I don't think anyone will be able to tell it apart from a traditional manual. That's the objective. It should feel like a mix between a Mazda Miata and a Ferrari gated shifter. The best of the two worlds."

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