With all the insanity of these new automatic transmissions that have 12 million gears, I would wonder if somebody makes software so that you could make a dragstrip mode that skips some of the gears to give you sort of a three speed or four speed affect for the dragstrip. Has anyone heard of something like this?
Dammit Siri, you screwed up my title!
Maybe with a manual controller. We've got a manual controller for an AW4(and whatever the Toyo version was) that allows you to pick any gear at any time and lockup at any time.
The old AW45 in a Volvo 240 would skip 3rd either up or down load dependent. Matt the throttle to 55 mph and lift to cruise and it would skip. Cruising at 65 and matt it and it would drop from 4 to 2 in one step. Best drag strip performance should work best using every gear from green light to the finish line. unlikely to reach the top of the box in 1/4 mile, but all those gears keep the engine at peak efficiency more than skipping.
1) why?
2) some of them already do this. The jeep/Chrysler 9 speed almost never uses all the gears. Its really weird.
A few of the multi gear transmissions already do this, as stated.
A variant of the Chrysler push button transmission looks like the answer
I know my Avalanche has the ability to do it based off the HPTuners interface. I normally make sure to use all the gears. 
_ said:Darnit Siri, you screwed up my title!
No need to swear, all you need to do is ask; here, or in the Report Canoes thread
fixored?
I'll echo the "why" part. As long as it's not dropping torque during shifting, more gears is a really good way to keep things humming at the best part of the powerband.
My 10-speed F-150 skips around all the time. No idea how you'd control it manually but it generally knows which of the 10 it should be in for best power and/or engine braking.
I bet for any cars (all cars probably?) that are even slightly performance oriented the engineers spent a "little" time developing the WOT transmission program, and tested it for best acceleration. Remember the shifts in a modern auto are pretty darn quick, especially at WOT.
My guess is the cars are pretty close to good to go. If you want to tune it however, I think you can already do some from things like HP tuners and it will only get better from there.
also, maybe megashift? IDK if anyone has done a very modern trans yet, but maybe.
Brake_L8 said:My 10-speed F-150 skips around all the time. No idea how you'd control it manually but it generally knows which of the 10 it should be in for best power and/or engine braking.
Same. Under normal conditions, mine skips every other gear. The different drive modes change this. If I put it in Tow/Haul mode, it goes into each gear on the way up and on decel. I don't remember what the "sport" mode does.
Curtis said:I'll echo the "why" part. As long as it's not dropping torque during shifting, more gears is a really good way to keep things humming at the best part of the powerband.
There’s a reason top drag cars don’t have six speeds. Every shift is a loss of time. Two identical vehicles with A 3 or 4 spd versus a 10spd auto that shifts every gear in the 1/4 will walk the 10spd car.
ProDarwin said:1) why?
2) some of them already do this. The jeep/Chrysler 9 speed almost never uses all the gears. Its really weird.
That's because they broke before use. Not the same as intentionally skipping a gear.
_ said:Curtis said:I'll echo the "why" part. As long as it's not dropping torque during shifting, more gears is a really good way to keep things humming at the best part of the powerband.
There’s a reason top drag cars don’t have six speeds. Every shift is a loss of time. Two identical vehicles with A 3 or 4 spd versus a 10spd auto that shifts every gear in the 1/4 will walk the 10spd car.
Top drag cars don't even have A gear, unless you want to consider the diff ratio a gear.
But 99.99999999999999999999999999999999% of cars sold don't drag race, nor are they designed for that. They are designed to be as efficient as possible in as many situations as possible.
In reply to z31maniac :
C’mon folks, this GRM, when have we NOT drag raced something that was never intended to?
I was asking for the guy that owns something like a Lexus or Benz that has the craziest amount of gears and if there is some program to make it skip shifts in a certain mode. Like a mega squirt that can control the gears. This way, since you have 9 gears to choose from, you could pick the 3 or 4 that would best suit a 1/4 mi run.
Where did I say we don't drag race things that weren't intended for it?
I simply stated that's not what engineers are worried about when trying to build the transmission program for an F150. And I'm sure whomever purchased a Lexus isn't worried about hooking an MS to change the shift pattern for drag racing.
_ said:There’s a reason top drag cars don’t have six speeds. Every shift is a loss of time. Two identical vehicles with A 3 or 4 spd versus a 10spd auto that shifts every gear in the 1/4 will walk the 10spd car.
Not necessarily. How many gears it needs depends mostly on 2 things: engine powerband and torque converter stall speed. If you've got an engine with a wide powerband and a very high stall converter for a good drag launch, you'll need less gears. But if you want to drive it on the street, you'll generally have a lower stall converter and want a shorter 1st gear to help make up for it, so you'll need more gears for best acceleration. And if you have a narrower powerband, you'll also generally need more gears to keep the engine in its happy spot.
Now figuring in part throttle operation on the street, that's even more gears needed to have a good balance of performance, fuel economy, etc. under a wide range of conditions. Of course, if some of the gears are pretty closely spaced, it might make sense to skip them on a WOT run.
As far as losing time on shifts, it's very much an issue with a manual. But with an auto built strong enough to handle shifting at WOT with no throttle reduction or timing cut, as long as it shifts fairly quickly and firmly, shifting doesn't really cost time. A built auto on a traction limited car will often break the rear tires loose on a 1st to 2nd shift, as the driveline has to pull the engine revs down (they're not falling due to engine braking when the engine is still at WOT). That puts a significant momentary burst of power into the driveline (and tires) provided the trans shifts quickly / firmly enough not to waste that power as heat / slippage.
_ said:Curtis said:I'll echo the "why" part. As long as it's not dropping torque during shifting, more gears is a really good way to keep things humming at the best part of the powerband.
There’s a reason top drag cars don’t have six speeds. Every shift is a loss of time. Two identical vehicles with A 3 or 4 spd versus a 10spd auto that shifts every gear in the 1/4 will walk the 10spd car.
totally don't agree with this, if you take a ten new speed transmission and put in it place of my T-5
I totally disagree with this, if you take a ten new speed transmission and put in it place of my T-5 for instance. I would still be pushing in the clutch and looking for third gear while the ten speed 1992 Mustang would be in the power the whole time and in fourth or fifth gear and way ahead of me.
I was amazed by my daughters Stelvio when I matted it that thing went through three gears in the time it would have taken me to get out of first and it was going a lot faster. Not apples to apples however I have to believe it's true.
No time slip to back this up but I don't know of any super cars that are faster with a three or four speed.
Why do drag cars have one or two speed autos? For the reliability of the shock load of a launch and they evolved that way. With a real loose converter you are mimicking a CVT, another common trans for its efficiency.
Maybe I should have answered this in the Troll thread cuz I really don't know E36 M3.
artur1808 said:Brake_L8 said:My 10-speed F-150 skips around all the time. No idea how you'd control it manually but it generally knows which of the 10 it should be in for best power and/or engine braking.
Same. Under normal conditions, mine skips every other gear. The different drive modes change this. If I put it in Tow/Haul mode, it goes into each gear on the way up and on decel. I don't remember what the "sport" mode does.
From what I can tell, it dramatically increases throttle response and will also shift through every gear under heavy acceleration. It feels like the torque converter locks up sooner but that could just be in my head. Regardless, it makes the truck notably quicker.
bobzilla said:That's because they broke before use. Not the same as intentionally skipping a gear.
Well played sir.
_ said:This way, since you have 9 gears to choose from, you could pick the 3 or 4 that would best suit a 1/4 mi run.
Those gears would be either 1,2,3 or 1,2,3,4
Unless the car is making a billion hp, it can probably do the 1/4 in the first 4 gears. Problem solved.
Obviously the answer is an electric car with 1 forward ratio.
ProDarwin said:bobzilla said:That's because they broke before use. Not the same as intentionally skipping a gear.
Well played sir.
Thank you. I’ll be here all week. Be sure to tip your waiters and waitresses
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