Transmissions in the traditional sense may be rapidly disappearing from road cars with the march of electrification, but even EVs often need some form of reduction gearing from motor to wheel. In racing though, the ICE is still king and, as such, multi-speed gearboxes are still very much the norm.
Whether EV or ICE, development is relentless, with a current focus on some common themes such as optimising efficiency and cost reduction. In this feature, we will address some of the more interesting advances seen in competition transmissions over the past few years.
Minimising transmission losses is nothing new, but with the arrival of ‘energy’-limited formulae, be that F1 or Formula E, big strides have been seen in efficiency since the latter series moved away from the spec Hewland five-speed transmission in its second season.
The biggest change for Gen 2 was a battery that allowed a full race distance to be completed (prior to this, drivers swapped cars mid-race) and, with increasing involvement of manufacturer-backed teams, the development curve has ramped up. A sure-fire recipe for a spending war.
Design integration
One area where significant performance gains have been found is transmission design, both in terms of efficiency and overall integration of the gearbox with the wider vehicle and powertrain. Given a finite amount of available energy (52kWh) and a fixed maximum power output of 250kW (for Gen 2, now 350kW in Gen 3), the only way to improve performance is via car set-up, or ensuring more energy reaches the wheels for longer
