DCT In a Race Car

[JbonesM3]

Hey all, I currently race spec miata and have for the past 4 years or so among other cars and classes. I have entertained the idea of turning my e92 DCT M3 into a full race car.

I've spoken to someone I know that turned his into a race car and he said the DCT kept have issues later in the races or sessions due to the heat in the transmission. He said after months of trying to make it work he wound up swapping it out for a manual trans.

My question for anyone here that knows is, was his a unique case? Or is this transmission just really not built for the abuse and long run of being in a full time race car? Is there anyway to make it work?

I've had my car on the track and having never driven anything with a trans like the DCT and sequential or anything it was heavenly!

Thanks all, hope someone has experience with this and can steer me in the right direction.

[Jive]

I think it may have been a one off case. The GTS comes with the same exact transmission and that is a purpose built car for the track (granted the cooling was beefed up). They do make heavy duty cooling for the DCT as well: http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1060558

[JbonesM3]

Great, thanks.

[Richbot]

BMW doesn't race anything with DCT in it, and doesn't sell any factory racecars with DCT and never has. GTS is a street car with a wing on it and a cage, but still a street car. DCT makes great sense to give best of both worlds driveability and shift speed, but as soon as you're talking about a racecar, that first part becomes a moot point, and durability at sustained race pace is the only thing that matters. For that you need a manual or a sequential dogbox, IMO. Both of which are doable, obviously, and have been done before.

That all said, doesn't Ferrari use the same gearbox (as a transaxle obviously) or a very similar one in the 458 Challenge cars?

[Alex@Redline360]

We have been racing our DCT car with no problems as have many others. We just finished a track day on Saturday in 95 degree weather and the car ran flawless. As others mentioned, there are upgraded coolers and I believe someone also makes an upgraded DCT oil pan, though I haven't seen tests to show if it helps over the stock plastic plan.

[dparm]

Originally Posted by Richbot

That all said, doesn't Ferrari use the same gearbox (as a transaxle obviously) or a very similar one in the 458 Challenge cars?

They use the higher-horsepower unit (same as M5/M6) in the 458, yes. I believe the California had the same unit as ours.

[Namsen10]

Hello,
Are you looking to sell it ?
I would advice you to list it here for a quick sale: https://www.racingpal.com/

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by Namsen10

Hello,
Are you looking to sell it ?

Maybe did, 5 years ago...

[SYT_Shadow]

Although the OP is ancient, we might as well clarify for future generations and google searches

The do88 dct radiator and the slonik dct oil pan work together to make dct work just fine for the track. It was already a very robust transmission, but the do88 takes care of the temperature and the slonik dct pan takes care of oil starvation problems

[MPACT]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Although the OP is ancient, we might as well clarify for future generations and google searches

The do88 dct radiator and the slonik dct oil pan work together to make dct work just fine for the track. It was already a very robust transmission, but the do88 takes care of the temperature and the slonik dct pan takes care of oil starvation problems

Agreed. And BMW did end up launching the M4 GT4 with a DCT that has been fairly solid as a race trans.