Are CVTs the future of racing?

Let's not kid ourselves here, as boring to drive and to hear as CVT transmissions are, they remain the theoretical best transmission system one could have.With optimal power at all times and no power drops during gear shifts, when combined with a precise traction control system they effectively allow the car to accelerate to its maximum potential every time, just like electric cars.

We can go on long deluded rants about how "racing is for manual only" but look at what happened to stick shifts. Race teams don't care what is fun to drive, they care about performance. Dual clutch transmissions simply outperform stick shifts, and so they eventually replaced them.

CVTs are the next logical step from Dual Clutch and/or Hybrid powertrains, since they are far lighter and achieve theoretically better performance. How long will it be before they completely take over racing? It is true that High Torque CVTs required for racing are yet to be fully developed, but if the Williams F1 team got one working as early as in the 90s, then it surely isn't that far ahead.

Let's face it, professional racing is mainly there to develop and advertise the newest consumer technologies. Fan cars were banned because no one in their right mind would put that in a street car, so it went against the corporate mindset of the event. CVTs on the other hand are perfectly viable and are becoming more and more popular in consumer cars, despite how shitty current production models are, so we can definitely expect them to make an appearance.

With things like Formula E, it has been shown that even races with boring to listen engine sounds and boring to drive cars are attracting a wide audience, and since this is clearly where the consumer industry is headed, CVT dominated racing will surely be a thing not too long from now.

thoughts fellow Veeky Forumstists?

They cant handle torque, which will relegate them to lower classes only.

this

20 gear transmissions are the future.

they can't handle torque NOW

as soon as high torque CVTs are developed all other transmission types will be obsolete

CVTs were banned because they sound like shit.

Why not 100?

>theoretical best transmission
>pulleys and belts
>huge power loss
k

Any automatic transmission are banned on racing. Kinda surprise i didn't know formula e use cvt.

Of course they are the future due to the inherent nature of ICEs producing non linear torque curves but there are some major flaws to the CVT it needs to overcome before being mainstream.

First is durability/longevity. Racing is extremely demanding and a broken transmission is game over. Second is poor driveline efficiency, they need to develop a system that doesn't use friction to transfer energy from input to output. Third is response. One of the things I hated about my CVT equipped car was how absolute shit the response was. It was a NA econobox but it felt worse than any car with turbolag.

I do have to say though, CVTs are already inferior tech compared to electric motors with crazy linear torque curves but EVs have their own flaws to overcome as well. There's a reason conventional transmissions mated to ICEs are still being used to this day.

They don't, its just that electric cars don't have gearboxes at all since the engine always outputs its max power, so it works just like a CVT would, and it sounds just as boring too

the response comes from how it is programmed. If you make it always output max torque it should accelerate like crazy, but current CVTs can't handle that so they are adjusted for fuel saving econoshitboxing instead

Maybe, if consumer cars and trucks start hauling semi trailers.
A 9 gear DCT box would gives such smooth and instantaneous transitions that any theoretical advantage of a CVT would never be perceived by a human operating the vehicle.
The most we're likely to see out of a pickup truck is 10-12. We're already hitting major diminishing returns at 11 gear autos.

DCT will eventually be cheap enough that they're in everything. Its the clear winner for transmission tech.

Cvt has been around for years and is still shit. The more popular now as people are willing to buy cuckboxes and they're cheap to manufacture

DCT and any fixed gear system for that matter is at a major disadvantage when it comes to acceleration from a standstill when compared to what a CVT could achieve if it could take more torque

even if DCTs become cheap they will still be outperformed. This is the same argument people were pulling when DCTs became a thing and look where it is now

No one is going to be utilizing a CVT for a high torque motor, so the point about better acceleration off the line doesn't matter in practice. DCTs are incredibly fast, they're robust, they don't have a problem scaling with power.

There is a lemons team that races with a snowmobile powered Miata . It's awesome

racing should be a drivers sport not a sport for testing mechanical advantage.
go watch f1 if you want that.

Every Formula e cars have a gearbox, some even have multiple speed to choose

Everyone will be using a CVT for high torque applications once they are more reliable

you just dont get it do you

Doesn't stop F1

If a military CVT drive unit can power a 50t tank to 70kmh forwards and backwards, I don't see it being a problem when it's design trickles down to the civilian market

So, if the problem with CVT is torque, then why not use it on something with fuckall torque, like the dorito?

You can develop CVTs that can handle torque. Tractors have been using CVTs since around 15yrs now, accelerate from 0 to 80 kph with engines having 1500nm or more. The problem is theyre working with a mechanical and hydrostatic part. That lowers the efficiency.
But nevertheless its possible to develop better CVTs.

Audi tried it, the torque was the killer, but the latest versions werent that bad (was called Multitronic)

I think CVTs can handle big torques, if theyre developed right. The thing most manufacturers arent interested in CVTs for cars. In my opinion they will not come to big use.

then you still have to deal with the problems of the rotary

Tanks can absolutely shit their guts out, and there is no problem, because routine mandated maintenance schedules address it, and the government has bottomless pockets.

Not the same case for a fleet of millions of cars on the road.

all the current ones involve uge transmission losses
like 80% once they start overheating

Thats not the big point, tanks use a CVT which works with hydrostatics. That makes them reliable. The "better maintenance" isnt making that big of a difference. But Hydrostatic CVTs are only good for heavy vehicles. They have a bad efficiency which makes them unpractical for cars. The belt driven version in the picture is the one mainly used for cars. Better efficiency, but less reliable. Fit for cars.