HOW THE FERRARI CALIFORNIA 7-SPEED DUAL-CLUTCH TRANSMISSION WORKS

FERRARI CALIFORNIA 7-SPEED DUAL-CLUTCH TRANSMISSION

The Ferrari California is a supercar that is popular for its insane speed. This beast was launched as a massive touring sports car in 2008 at the Paris Auto Show. The supercar could be the first Ferrari to feature a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT).

An ideal supercar should have; enhanced acceleration, smooth gear changes, and fuel efficiency.

The Ferrari California has all three, putting it in the class of high-performance supercars. It is one of the more common supercars you’ll see in Ghana, and that’s why we want to understand how it works.

A DCT is like a hybrid of manual transmission and automatic transmission. It puts the two together to give you maximum performance. When you drive a manual vehicle, you change gears by using the clutch pedal and the stick shift. But with an automatic transmission, the car does the changing for you. It uses the clutches, a torque converter, and sets of gears to do this. The DCT uses two clutches and has no clutch pedal.

Unlike a regular automatic transmission, the 7-speed DCT isn’t controlled by high-end electronics and hydraulic systems. The clutches work independently from each other. This lends the Ferrari California to change gears without stopping power flow from the engine to the transmission. It makes changing gears lightning-fast and allows uninterrupted power delivery in supercars.

FERRARI CALIFORNIA CLUTCH TRANSMISSION VS AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

Many times car lovers try to compare the DCT and automatic transmissions. The truth is, they are similar in setup but very different in function. In actuality, the DCT has more in common with manual transmission than it does with automatic transmission.

SMOOTH ACCELERATION

The Ferrari California’s DCT allows for perfect acceleration. It removes the shift shock in gearshifts of manual transmission and some automatic transmission cars. Can you believe it takes only 0.008 seconds to move up or down a gear in dual-clutch transmission?

That is impressive, even for a supercar. The DCT of this Ferrari gives the driver the option to use the gear shifting or to let the automated system do the shifting. The automatic transmission doesn’t give the driver this much smoothness in acceleration or gear shift option.

ENHANCED FUEL EFFICIENCY

Improved fuel efficiency is another topic of comparison between DCT and automatic transmission. Experts say the Ferrari California can deliver as much as a 10% rise in fuel economy. That is because of the constant power flow from the engine to the transmission. This puts this Ferrari in a category that a regular automatic car can’t be.

Some automatic transmission cars may have fuel efficiency, but they are nothing in comparison to the Ferrari California.

CONCLUSION

The DCT of the Ferrari California is built with speed and performance in mind. Using separate clutches to control all the gears, it’s not surprising that this car is a beast on the road. Now that we know how this DCT works, we can appreciate the Ferrari even more.

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