ZF Friedrichshafen AG

Even turbo.

The only difference is that now you're a ZF.

Yes, the

DSG.

And I believe ZF is a better gearbox.

yeah

yeah actually without units

this week when we were doing the run.

This V8 would be very compact, and it would be a unit that could fit into the compact Lotus race car chassis, and the whole thing should, in theory anyway, if done right, work very well together.

Still relatively stuck, Duckworth's first submitted drawings were for the back of the engine and sent to the ZF company so ZF could engineer the mounting points for the transmission the car would use.

Duckworth moved his drawing studio to his home, visited the factory once a week, subsisted as he claimed on a diet of steak and cabbage, and lost 40 pounds while creating the DFV and one of the all-time one-man lifts in racing history.

He did allow one man to help, Mike Hall.

So at the moment they're talking about it pretty vaguely.

i don't know but but here's where i i understand and i see i see where you're coming from and i agree but i think what we're seeing also in the industry and i think tesla is a great example of this is where when you're fully integrated you know just kind of vertically integrated in the vehicle which means you control the you know the materials the the software the components in a very great manner For example, Tesla usually doesn't outsource a lot of their manufacturing or component manufacturing, but legacy manufacturers have been doing that for decades, right? There's huge companies like Bosch and ZF and Magna, and others who create components for these vehicles, right? So it's really hard to iterate, right? Because you have to talk about, oh, I'm talking about the two steering box.

I have to call this other manufacturer.

Yeah, there's a lot of collaboration and communication.

Making a fake one... isn't really the answer, I don't think.

I like this 8 HP thing, which is that the ZF 8-speed gearbox can be manually overridden, and you can install an effectively aftermarket clutch pedal, and you can clutch kick it, and you have full manual control, even though it's a torque converter automatic gearbox.

And in these drift cars, it's even stronger than the manual gearboxes that they're replacing, in some cases.

Yeah, and it basically gives people a sequentially shifted transmission for a lot less money.

Not everyone can afford a full racing gearbox.

Most people can't.

So this goes, hey, grab an 8HP or ZF 8-speed out of

any crash.

The thing is, it's hard to argue with the fact that BMW make a great diesel engine, straight 6D.

ZF make an exceptional automatic gearbox, 8-speed automatic gearbox, which everyone's putting in everything at the moment because it is that good.

She

would buy a Grenadier and convert a Land Rover Defender to a M57 engine, 8-speed auto.

yeah i think i would you know i would no i would i would be nice to do a back-to-back comparison again like now a few years on

Yeah, I think it would actually.

The thing is that, as I said, like BMW, ZF, Carraro, all those companies that were involved in making components for the Grenadier are the very best at what they do.

So the actual culmination of all those parts, the parts themselves, should be pretty bulletproof.

The non-manual Supra is a torque converter,

right? It's a ZF? Yeah, it's a ZF 8-speed, but that ZF 8-speed is good, right? It's the greatest transmission ever made.

That actually

kind of sounds... better than any of the dual clutches that we've been talking about.

You know what's in modern M3s? What? ZF8.

ZF8 speed.

So I should go with the G80? You want to know what's also in Alpha Julia's? ZF8.

ZF8 speed.

And as I said before, I love highlighting and getting a chance to meet these companies at the show, so this was one of my favorite things to do, is to be able to walk the docks, meet the companies, and learn a little bit more about them, and now get a chance to share that with you all.

So on this episode, we're gonna go visit CAI, ZF Marine, and Eco Safeway.

So let's do a little bit of a throwback and go visit them back at the show, and enjoy the opportunity to meet some of these leaders in the sustainability space.

[gentle music] Good afternoon.

So thank you.

I appreciate it.

[gentle music] We're sitting down today with ZF Marine, next gen propulsion.

I wanted to get the slogan there.

Old trucks that, that just work.

Now to Dodge's credit, they gave him a pretty big, um, kickback of value, 'cause he'd had the truck for about a year, and got him into '25, and he was just like, "Dude, that ZF transmission," he's like, "It's what they talk about." [laughs]

[laughs]

"It is awesome." So he's very happy.