![]() ![]() Xtrac’s current Indycar gearbox the ‘295’ will be replaced in 2012 Scott Dixon’s comment when he first used it we “It’s really good I hate it.” It levelled the playing field. Some of the drivers did not like the paddle shift system when we first introduced it. Their teams wanted a fast driver and were resigned to the fact that they were going to have bills to pay. Certain drivers were knowingly over revving the engine because it was the fast way round the track. I understand that avoiding one over rev rebuild pays for the paddle shift system. We have seen over revs of the engine go to zero. However good the drivers are, errors still used to be made and you got damage to the transmission. Taking the driver away from direct control of the gearshift is good. Paddle shifters undoubtedly bring cost savings to the teams in terms of gearbox inventory. We are integrating the actuator into the casings rather than being a bolt on part. The valve block is similar in operation but we only need two valves instead of three because there is no throttle blipper. The new cars will have drive by wire throttle, as opposed to a pneumatic blipper so the GCU needs to communicate differently. The main Megaline GCU is a carry over from the current car but there will be firmware/software updates. We could have looked at integrating that into the box but it would have just been additional cost, which would have been hard to justify. ![]() Another example is that a lot of teams run a thermostat on the box. It increases the length of the gearbox, which is a safety implication. ![]() It is more than just one extra gear set, there are several extra components. A 7-speed ‘box when you are fighting on cost and weight does not make sense. Some of the things on the list would never have made it, such as the KERS. We had a wide variety of requests all the way from KERS, to fully dry sumps, to 7-speed, to carbon cases. Spoke to team managers, race engineers and gearbox guys and came up with a list of what they would like in a new transmission. We did an extensive survey of all the teams two years ago during the month of May. That said we cannot do everything that we would like to because of the cost pressure. It will be easier for them to hook up oil heaters. We are adding a few more features for ease of the teams. It is still a six speed plus reverse and the differential will be adjustable. We have had a good track record there and we do not want to be moving backwards. We are trying to keep the weight down but maintain the safety record as well in terms of such as tethers and lights on it. We have designed it for slightly higher torque capacity. All these features have been designed in since the initiation of the project, which allows for nicer packaging with less add ons. Reverse was the most recent thing to be added. Key things that have happened since 2003 is that a differential was added for road course racing and then a paddle shift system was added. We are also incorporating into the design many of the features that have been added onto the design of the current gearbox since it was first introduced. Expect there to be a few more options that will allow the engineers to tune the transmission more with more options in set up. We are adding more tuneability, if there is such a word. Potentially this will reduce the inventory requirements for the teams particularly in the case of complete spare gearboxes. So, one of the areas we have done is enabling quicker and easier turnaround of the transmission between oval spec and road/street course spec. Switching back and forth from road, street and ovals has different requirements. The current gearbox has been in existence since 2003 and was designed and produced when the IRL only did oval racing. We feel that we have got a very reliable, high performing product. Other than that the main areas of development are on the serviceability. There has been a lot of pressure on the pricing so the teams are going to see some large benefits there. Engineer Adrew Heard reveal more about the new cars gearbox. For the new car the English firm has developed a new transmission dubbed the 1011. Xtrac has been selected as the sole gearbox supplier to Dallara for the 2012 Indycar. ![]()
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