One of the first things you notice when you are in a supercar is the acceleration above 80 mph, which tends toward the stupid. The second thing you notice is how quickly modern dual-clutch transmissions shift—like video-game quick here on the McLaren 720S.
Our friend Jason Fenske at Engineering Explained wanted to know just how quick, using a satellite tracker that measures the car’s position every 0.05 seconds, which ended up being not good enough for the McLaren.
Here, for example, is how the data looked when Fenske performed the same test with a manual-transmission Honda S2000. Those bumps are when he was shifting gears and no torque was going to the wheels, meaning the car was perceptibly slowing:
Here it is on the McLaren, a straight line of acceleration showing no discernible bumps at all when the car shifted gears.
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The fact that there were no bumps doesn’t mean the car shifted instantaneously, only that it shifted quicker than the 0.05 seconds that the tracker charted the course of the car.
Which might as well be about instantaneous. Watch Jason’s whole video here:
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