That's The Formula On Hand Here
But no car is unassailable, even Porsche's flagship. That's why Mercedes created the 2016 GT S, the supercar with a dual personality. It can be a 500-horsepower track weapon, or luxury highway cruiser, something to demolish lap times, or caress your backside. It's got heaps of composites and aluminum, making it lighter than the SLS, while inside, there's leather and other top-shelf luxury materials sitting astride bucket seats and the paddle shifters for a seven-speed dual clutch transmission. But Mercedes didn't set out to make a better 911. Rather, the AMG GT S is a different idea altogether. Which begs the question: what kind of idea would that be? That's what Chris Harris set out to find in this video. When it comes to no-nonsense super car reviews, this guy definitely knows his stuff. He doesn't just ooh and ahh over horsepower figures or big sticker prices (although there is plenty of that).
He also digs under the surface of the vehicle in question before coming to some authoritative conclusion, providing ample power slides as entrainment along the way. That's the formula on hand here. We start with a breakdown of the rolling chassis, as Harris points out several of the design features of the AMG GT S, including the v-mounted twin-turbos and hydraulic steering rack. The new rear axle assembly also gets a once over, as does the exhaust system. Speaking of making turns and loud noises, we later find Harris exploring the limits of grip in a full body AMG GT S on the inimitable curves of the Laguna Seca Raceway in northern California. While a 911 never ends up crashing the party, watching the Merc get crossed up everywhere on track (and we do mean everywhere) as Harris fawns over both the vehicle and the setting is a joy. Spoiler alert: the verdict is a positive one, but honestly, that shouldn't be very surprising.
First, full disclosure: I am not a Porsche technician, and I am not an Engineer. I just like to think like one! So my description of the "inner-workings" of the Porsche Doppelkupplung or PDK transmission are more of a component perspective and reflective of my own technical knowledge, taking a shot at describing how the various parts work together. Feel free to disagree, or point out what I've missed, by commenting below! I am sure there are much more technically details, accurate descriptions than what I attempt here -- but the average person out there should be able to follow-along. Brief history of the PDK: As many Porsche fans know, P-cars have offered automatic and semi-automatic transmissions over the years. It wasn't until 1990 that Porsche offered a new generation of transmission known as the "Tiptronic." This was a more successful option, and the innovation was the electronic control the driver had over the transmission. In 2009 Porsche released the Porsche Doppelkupplung, or PDK transmission.
While that animation does a great job "showing" you how the dual-clutch setup auto-magically works, it DOESN'T talk at all about the component relationships - and most importantly, the how do you tell the transmission what you want from it? It's all fine and dandy that the technology is capable of pre-selecting gears and taking inputs from the ECU and stability management systems -- but what about input from the driver? That's what we'll focus on in the rest of this post. Looking at the illustration, you can see that there is a physical cable that will transmit selector position or activity to the transmission. The transmission control unit is located in the passenger compartment, in the rear seating area under the seat cushions ahead of the engine bay. 22 in the above illustration is the connection point between the PDK selector lever in the cabin, and the transmission. 6 in previous illustration) connects here, and transmits the selector position or action (in the case of manually up-or-down-shifting) to the transmission.