Hot Rod magazine recently ran an article about the new Mustang Shelby’s dual clutch transmission. I couldn’t understand their explanation of how it is configured. It’s a 7-speed, and from what I could gather clutch A is used exclusively for the odd gear numbers ( 1, 3, 5, & 7), and clutch B is used only for the even gears, (2,4, 6). This sort of makes sense as an automatic transmission usually moves up and down the gears in increments of one gear at a time.
So the part of this scheme I don’t understand is the gear set configuration. I understand theer are two separate clutches, but are there also two separate input shafts? and two separate lay shafts? i.e. are there actually two complete and independent sets of gears in a double clutch transmission?
Gear shifts are faster because gears are selected while the currently engaged gear still drives the wheels. Shift decisions are nearly instantaneous and controlled by computer. You choose the time to shift and the electronic transmission handles it for you. Tremec says that their algorithms give the feel of a fully manual transmission, but it is really electronic.
Not that I can buy one, but I think I would want to wait at least year in the hands off consumers to see if problems developed. If works as designed, it would be a boon to some. In my case I have reoccurring sciatic pain that keeps me away from manual transmissions.