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General Discussion Area / Re: Smart lunacy
« on: 27 January 2008, 01:26:30 »
You need to come across this nutter then. Why put it in the back?
http://www.spagweb.com/v8mini/
Kevin
http://www.spagweb.com/v8mini/
Kevin
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Quotewhy bother with the smart car,just buy a hayabusa...probably double the power to weight ratio of the smart/hayabusa
I might have had an accident when I watched this one.
I presume your Westfield has a bike gearbox or similar sequential setup, so you'll realise just how good those boxes can be.
I doubt it would work in a normal car though, as it probably couldn't handle the weight and torque, plus the ratios have to be very close together for the clutchless upshifting to work, which wouldn't work well in a normal car -- a sports bike's 1st gear is quite high as it would be useless otherwise, it would lift the front end far too easily. Similarly 6th gear is quite low as you have 12000+ RPM to play with, hence why the ratios are really close.
On your last comment I must add a saving grace that makes SMG far preferable to a conventional auto to me -- that is the lack of a torque converter. It's the main reason I still stongly dislike even "steptronic" or "tiptronic" or whatever marketing name they're using this week, basically autos that you can tell the computer that you'd like it to change. But you still get that elastic band effect when adjusting the throttle, and it's something I detest when changing speed a lot like on a windy road. It's great for those who want a super smooth gearchange as it dampens out any jerkiness, but for spirited driving it's a horrible thing. Give me the jerkiness of a proper clutch any day.Well, autos are best left as autos, IMHO. Whether you or the ECU decide when to change makes little odds so tiptronic shifts and the like are just gimicks. Another toy that only takes 20 lines of code in the autobox ECU to implement, so comes free. The fact remains that they are limited in the number of ratios available and the torque converter is there to compensate. It's a totally different animal. I like having the auto in my Omega, personally, but I didn't buy it as a sports car.
It'll be interesting to see how the SMG II gearboxes hold up over time
The thing with a manual is it doesn't actually need any maintenance (I change the oil in mine anyway but it's usually still clean), so even a neglected one will probably still outlive the engine and/or bodywork. It's not a big deal if you have the equipment and skills to do the work yourself, but for the rest of us I'd rather avoid the hassle.