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ZF Details Word’s First 7-Speed Manual Gearbox

The 2012 Porsche 911 has already revealed most of its secrets, from its lightweight construction, to the fact that it offers an elongated wheelbase and better performance than ever.
As volume production of the new sportscar is well underway now, the supplier of the gearbox for the car, ZF Friedrichshafen AG, decided to promote the advanced gearbox offered as standard with both the Carrera and Carrera S versions of the coupe and cabriolet. We’re talking about the world’s first seven-speed manual gearbox, which they say was derived from the PDK dual clutch transmission.

The idea of offering the extra gear came not from the pursuit of speed, but from that of economy, as the extra cog is there simply to help you cruise at lower engine speeds. Top speed for the 911 is achieved in sixth gear, but the last gear comes to the rescue when you want to cruise in the car.

To save even more fuel, ZF have equipped the gearbox as standard with automatic start-stop technology. The company said that while the modular construction of the 7-speed dual clutch transmission provided a lot of advantages when it came to crating the new stick-shit unit, there were also a couple of hurdles.

The biggest one was the difference in design between a dual-clutch and the standard H-type shift system. The gearsets were kept intact by adding a set of new converted shifting actuators. ZF also says they gave the 911 steering a new 21st century edge via the ZF Servolectric electric power steering.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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