The Porsche PDK is a Dream Perfected After 40 Years

It must be the festive season as Porsche is commemorating not one, but two anniversaries in 2021. It’s the 20th anniversary of Porsche Asia Pacific and they released a video that asks dreamers to chase their passions.

It’s also the 40th anniversary of the Porsche PDK, the idea of one Imre Szodfridt, a Hungarian engineer who presented the idea of a dual-clutch system to Ferdinand Piëch, then Porsche Head of Development, back in the 1960s. His dream never came to fruition until much later in 1981 after the powerful control electronics to implement the sensitive clutch control necessary for installation in production cars were finally available.

The dual-clutch gearbox is now a staple for many cars, but it is proper high technology that deserves a closer look, especially when it comes to Porsche’s version with a famously long name, Doppelkupplungsgetriebe, or PDK for short.

In a recent digital round table with Porsche, here are seven things we learnt about the PDK:

Called “Vehicle 2000”, German Federal Ministry of Research and Technology organised a competition for the automotive industry to develop a vision of a future vehicle to optimise fuel consumption. The PDK transmission proved to be the most forward-looking technology among all possible transmission concepts.

The 962 was the first racing car with PDK in the 1980s. In 1986, Stuck drove this race car to its first victory at the Monza 360 km race together with Derek Bell. In the end, both also won the 1986 world championship. Despite the PDK's greater weight and complexity, he was able to demonstrate significant advantages in the performance of the PDK principle on the race track.

“Back then, unlike my colleagues Jacky Ickx, Derek Bell and Jochen Mass, I lived just two hours away from Weissach and was able to be on site frequently and cover important test miles,” says Hans-Joachim Stuck.

Curiously, the PDK developed by Porsche was also tested in rallying by Audi: Walter Röhrl immediately took first place in the Audi Sport-Quattro S1 with PDK in its first outing at the Semperit Rally at the end of 1985. The advantages of a powershift are particularly significant in rally conditions, as shifting is particularly frequent in a rally vehicle.

Rainer Wüst, keyman for the PDK, said that when Ferdinand Piëch went for a test ride with him to test the then new gearbox, Piëch “was just sitting next to me, not talking very much, and just listening.” But he is convinced that When Piëch joined Volkswagen, “he is the guy who made sure that the PDK was finally then also launched in series production.”

With control & take-off strategies, efficiency issues learnt from the PDK, learnings were transferred into the two speed gearbox of the Taycan.

Porsche still sees PDK being around for at least the next 20 years while the right mix is found between ICE/PHEV and BEV cars. To quote, “as long as we talk about hybrid cars, we're talking about PDK transmissions with the motors in the package.” Enthusiasts, you have those hybrids to thank this time.

Credits: Text by James Wong; Photos by Porsche