A phenomenal 1.001 horsepower and 1,250 Nm of torque propel the Bugatti Veyron from zero to 407 km/h – without a shifting point the driver can even feel. This is thanks to a dual clutch developed by BorgWarner Drivetrain Systems which has supplied the dual clutch units, about the size of a dinner plate, in series production since 2003. The Volkswagen Corporation was the pioneer, and it was followed by renowned gearbox builders Getrag and Ricardo. Today seven of ten wet dual clutches on the world’s transmission market are built by BorgWarner.

For years, the idea of a dual clutch transmission languished in transmission engineers’ desk drawers. That fairytale slumber continued into the late 1990s, when the idea was revived by VW. The 2003 debut was in the Golf R32 and the Audi TT. The partner of choice was BorgWarner. “One of our core competences is in developing and producing wet friction plates and separator plates, the heart of each and every clutch. The design and arrangement of these components determine the properties of the clutch — such as friction coefficient, drag torque losses and thermal flows. What’s more, we already have wide-ranging experience with wet friction plates in automatic transmissions,” explains Ludwig Moch, who is responsible for planning the production facilities at BorgWarner and who helped engineer the manufacturing line for the dual clutches, set up in the Thuringian town of Arnstadt. Philip Meidt, market analyst at BorgWarner, adds: “When VW inquired about friction plates for a wet dual clutch, we went ahead and submitted a proposal for the entire assembly. To comply with the VW specifications we had to pack our knowledge into one complete module. To do this, our engineers had to strike out into unexplored territory.”