The German Carmag Sport Auto did some Track tests with the RX8 and competitors. Since most of you haven´t access to german automags here you go:

Rx8 1,19,8min
350z 1,18,7min
Audi TT 3.2 quattro 1,19,9min
Chrysler Crossfire 1,19,5min

The testing was done at the new (rather small) grandprix course at 2 degree Celsius.

 

From your title, I thought you meant the RX-8 was an automatic sport model, but now i'm unsure if you just referring to the name of the magazine. What sort of RX-8 was it?

 

Was the RX-8 and automatic? how about the others?

 

Has the be a MT, the auto could never keep up with those other cars...

 

Maybe it they were all automatics...

 

A little unclear.
But if you read the first sentence, Sport Auto is the name of the magazine.

 

I, for one, wasn't sure if 'Carmag' was part of the title or not. That (plus my pre-conceived notion before opening the thread) was enough to cast doubt for me. Anyway, I could be clueless but what is the deal with that crossfire? Does that sound right?

 

Sorry for being that unclear!
"Sport Auto" is the title of the german magazine (auto means "car" in german).

The rx8 (hipower), 350z and Crossfire were MT while the TT 3.2 was an automatic version.

(The TT had the new DSG - i dont know if its introduced in the international market yet - its an automatic with 2 clutches)

 

The RX-8 will have been a Euro Hi-power (228bhp) car, 6MT.

The TT is DSG - NOT auto - its a double clutched manual paddle type affair.

I'd expect properly driven in good conditions those results would change a lot, and not in the TT's favour.

That 3.2TT was almost a second slower than the RX-8 round the top gear track - and looked like it was pushed for its life.

 

Well in my opinion the DSG is an auto - you can manually shift (with the paddles) or let the automatic mode shift for you.
Its just shifts way faster the normal automatics and doenst loose as much power as traditional automatics.

Anyway i guess they used the manual shift mode on the racetrack.

 

Auto's use a torque convertor.

The DSG is effectivly the same as a manual, but uses 2 clutches, and it pre-selects the next gear for almost instant gear changes, even 'manual shift' with DSG is still using DSG.

I'm quite anti Audi(VAG) myself, I dont like em at all - but the DSG is an amazing piece of kit and should be faster than a normal manual (but probably a little heavier). It even convinced JC on top gear - now thats amazing - shame he hated the rest of the car.

 

Your opinion goes against the facts - the DSG uses two clutches instead of one like a traditional manual or SMG (like BMW or Ferrari, etc.), and regular gearsets like every other manual transmission (whether human operated or hydraulic servos controlled by computer operated). Those are all manual transmissions.

Auto transmissions are like Rob said - torque converters instead of clutches, and planetary gearsets. Even though many of the auto trans these days have Tiptronic paddle shifter type gear selection, they're still slushboxes behind the electronics. The DSG and other SMG gearboxes are still manuals behind the electronics. BIG difference, and important to keep distinct.

Regards,
Gordon

 

You are both right and there is no arguing about the difference between and traditional automatic and an DSG.
I just thought the term "automatic" relies to the automatic shift mode and not with or without the torque convertors but well... convinced.

 

Yeah, the shift mode is automatic, but... It's a pet peeve of mine, because here in North America automatic trans have so much of the market (probably about 90% or more of cars in general have auto trans here), and far too many people get a Tiptronic-style auto trans and say "I have a trans just like the F1 cars". No, they're nothing like the F1 cars aside from the fact that they use buttons or paddles to control the shift!! Sorry, I'm a manual trans fan, I won't own an automatic, so I jump on these points of distinction.

Regards,
Gordon

 

Automatics have their times and places But most i the time i prefare direct manual control. The DSG is a big step in the right direction!
Anyway how about the track times - is that what everybody expected? They were all pretty close together...