Audi 2010 Annual Report Download - page 61

Zap!” says Britta Heidemann
and gives the shift paddle
at her steering wheel a
tug. The fencing champ
wants to get going, from Munich
Airport onto the autobahn, to Audi
in Ingolstadt. The next “zap,” third
gear, then “zap” again, fourth gear.
No perceptible jolts. The S tronic
transmission shifts gears the way
Heidemann fences: smooth, fast,
precise. If she pulls the right shift
lever, she is shifting up, a tug on the
left and she’s shifting down a gear.
Of course it isn’t easy to compare a
transmission with a fencer. But this
28-year old from Leverkusen isn’t just
any woman handling an épée. She’s
the only woman fencer in the world
to ever have been Olympic champion,
world champion and European
champion at the same time. So if any-
one knows how to move with smooth
precision, she’s the one.
This links her with Michael
Schöff mann who, at 49, is in charge
of Transmission Development at
AUDI AG. “The S tronic is one of the
best transmissions in our product line,”
he explains. If you ask Schöff mann
what’s really important in a 7-speed
transmission, his answer sounds a lot
like Britta Heidemann.
“It has to go zap, zap, zap,” he
says succinctly, “almost without
interrupting tractive power.” That
means no jolts, no breaks. The driver
experiences a perfect moment.
Heidemann doesn’t like automatic
transmissions. “I’m a fan of old-
fashioned manual shifts,” she says.
“I like to make the decisions. When
I want second gear, I don’t want to
wait till an automatic shift brings it on
with a few jolts.” When it seems like
someone else is in control, it smacks of
defeat to her.
But the S tronic is no ordinary
automatic transmission. “The
S tronic is the synthesis of a highly
effi cient manual transmission with
the convenience of an automatic,”
Schöff mann explains to the fencer.
The technology behind it is the dual
clutch. One of the two clutches in the
car serves the odd-numbered gears
plus reverse, the other clutch handles
the even gears. “When one part of the
transmission is shifting, the other part
is already engaged in the next gear.
You might say it’s standing by,” says
Schöff mann. In other words, as soon
as Heidemann says “zap” and shifts up,
it takes only two-tenths of a second
until one of the clutches opens and
operates, while the other clutch closes.
Heidemann doesn’t have much more
time than this on the fencing piste
when she wants to dodge an attack.
“I have to anticipate my opponent’s
next move,” she confi des, “I’ve got to
fi gure her out.” Ever since Heidemann
fi rst donned a fencing mask at age 14
she had to learn to think like that. Not
just in competition – in training too.
“But how can the S tronic transmis-
sion predict whether the next gear is
supposed to be higher or lower?” asks
the fencing champ. What a car driver
will do next seems just as hard to
guess as the next move of a fencing
opponent.
“The S tronic has some tricks of
its own,” Schöff mann responds.
Sensors measure how fast the driver
is accelerating, and whether he is
going uphill or downhill. They measure
whether he’s just cruising or driving
more aggressively, at high or low
revs, and with how much transverse
acceleration. “Depending on what the
electronics anticipate, the S tronic
engages the next gear up or down
on the other part-transmission,”
Schöff mann explains. This dual-clutch
system can even look into the future.
A link to the navigation system enables
the S tronic to analyze the road ahead,
for instance whether a fast straight or
a slow curve is next.
For Heidemann one more right turn
is coming up, the one into the Audi site
in Ingolstadt. “Zap,” says the fencing
champ, tugs on the shift paddle and
turns off the road.
O
SVEN SCHULTE-RUMMEL
Speed scores
Britta Heidemann and the new
Audi RS 3 Sportback* with 7-speed
S tronic dual-clutch transmission.
PHOTOS | DAVID KÖNGISMANN/TANK MANAGEMENT
59
Experts on precision
Olympic fencing champion Britta Heide-
mann talked with Michael Schöff mann,
Head of Transmission Development at
AUDI AG, at the Audi Forum Ingolstadt.
* Fuel consumption and emission fi gures at the end of the Annual Report
Find out more about the S tronic
transmission at:
www.audi.com/ar2010/s-tronic