Porsche's steady march of progress has seen the transformation of a simple sports car design into one of the most capable road-going machines ever built, all while staying true to its illustrious heritage. While enthusiasts have lauded developments in braking, suspension, and of course the flat-six engine, it seems the strides made in Porsche's automatic transmissions have gone largely underappreciated despite their many attributes.

By no means an advancement in performance, the first Porsche 911 automatic transmission was born to accommodate a wider array of drivers rather to shave lap times. Dubbed Sportomatic, the 4-speed "auto" was hardly one at all, featuring a standard manual gearbox engineered to allow clutchless operation using a vacuum-actuated clutch and torque converter.

Upon grasp or release of the shift knob, the clutch could be operated while the driver selected the next gear. As less engaged drivers strayed towards other cars and the devoted third-pedal pushers continually opted for the stick-shift, a general disinterest led to the demise of the quirky Sportomatic unit in 1980.

With the debut of its most technologically advanced 911 yet, the 964, Porsche recognized the need for a self-shifting gearbox to match its competitors and appeal to wider markets. As no standard automatic gearbox could provide the performance and feel to complement the 964 at the time, Porsche employed the new "intelligent" Tiptronic unit developed in a joint study by ZF and Bosch. Monitoring throttle position, ABS, vehicle speed, and even fueling, the original four-speed Tiptronic could select between 5 available shift maps to suit the driver's style. The unit was continually developed well into the 2000s, eventually outperforming its manual counterpart in acceleration.

Despite its introduction to Porsche's roadgoing cars in the 2000s, the current PDK dual-clutch gearbox was initially developed during the early 1980s, and took its first racing victory at Monza in 1986, equipped in the legendary Porsche 962. More than 30 years later, PDK units are still being equipped in Porsche's latest road and race cars, providing seemingly instant gear changes and near-supernatural intuition to predict the driver's next move.

AUTHOR: G_MUND

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