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Originally Posted by coyote
I think it's pretty safe to say that Tada's role now involves a LOT of public relations. Only a PR person would say the things he did recently about the torque dip. Only a PR person would be authorized to conduct the interviews and put forward Toyota's version of the partnership.
I suspect his selection for the project was as much because of his appearance, language and public relations skills as his engineering talents. It appears that he is being groomed as a Toyota engineering spokesperson (that is public relations) and probably more in time to come.
Good on him. He appears to be good at it, but I think it a bit naive to view his comments as inside technical info rather than carefully scripted PR.
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Well, it's pretty much the fans and the internet information cycle that put Tada-san at the forefront of speaking about the FT86. It wasn't a calculated choice by TMC but rather what happened naturally with the power of the internet and fanbase asking for him, and Toyota simply allowing it to happen based on the demands.
PR or not, and take it however way you wish to take it on this and other matters, about any information sent to me from any engineers or PR group. It's nice to know that they are aware, and have an explanation, instead of hiring 50 lawyers to erase the complaints?
My thinking is that they wanted a pretty precise feel in the transmission which the FT86's 6MT has at driving temperatures, and they've had their own battles in planning against those who felt the transmission could be a bit more vague, but consistent like the ones in modern Corvettes... They just chose the "feel" of the Porsche 911, rather than the American feel. That's all within the capability to create, but one came with a flavor that some like, and other design that they did not choose, which comes with a flavor of a more mundane but less fluctuation on the feel of the shifter.
But trying to keep the transmission very compact and light, while trying to push a lot of power through it (eventually), they, perhaps chose to cut the gears closer and angled the teeth a bit more aggressively to keep overall power capacities in check. One could have a looser and more clunky box to handle the power but it would just have to become more heavier and larger. Something they were really adamantly trying to avoid for this particular car though at design stage.
That would be my hypothesis on this one, without my huge level of contemplation at this point. I also keep in mind that when I say power, I mean not the mere 160 or so net power that goes through this box from the simple engine loads, but the realistic abusive loads that people commonly put in the transmission with modern tires, and kicking the pedal, first-time learners slapping the pedals abruptly, mismatched rev shifts, and dozens of other factors, that put a lot more load and driveline shock, than the small loads that even the modded the engines can put through it.