Lol this is sarcasm right? It's gotta be.

You joke, but your dream of aftermarket “non-touchscreen” solutions is not that far-fetched.

Totally agree. Nissan is going through some hard times, but this car is made by them. It might be “old”, but it has all the ingredients enthusiasts want. I’m almost certainly a buyer.

I am so buying this!

Was this on private property?

Kindred spirits, Joanna.

a couple of my thoughts:

I wasn’t expecting this to be a fatal accident, and I watched the video before realizing it. I try to avoid watching that stuff whenever possible because I don’t enjoy watching suffering and death.

Mazda might indeed be the perfect candidate for Apple to buy: High tech, high fashion, small company.

Great find! But, I’m confused- I thought the Focus RS *did* have a disconnect on the PTU, so that the driveshaft could spin-down to reduce losses.

Yeah I know all about it, I have a GT-R. The hardware is great, the early transmission programming was not so great. Additionally, I run an aftermarket ECU for the AWD system and I can launch all day long no problem. See point #4 in this FAQ:…

I wish there was a reliable way to look up the exact hardware in any given car’s drivetrain. I’m sure the manufacturers intentionally obfuscate so that marketing can talk it up with more freedom.

I just assumed that third-party engineer meant to say “RDM” instead of PTU in his comments

I agree with your assumption that the PTU uses a dog for coupling the driveshaft. I seriously doubt they use a clutch disc in there.

You’re totally right. This is coming from my comment thread on the big AWD article where I explained how the industry shift to these systems is absolutely killing the pool of potential privateer AWD rally car conversions. Cars like the Focus RS just can’t handle the stress of a rally stage, and so as far as modern…

The BMW and the Nissan GT-R are RWD-based AWD systems, so they work “opposite” of the systems described above. These systems are well suited to on-road high performance work, including launching.

paging HammerheadFistpunch!

That “just” is carrying a lot of weight there...

I like this. Thank you for telling me. I’m actually passing this anecdote on to the rest of the rally team for us to keep it in our back pocket. We’re in the middle of looking to decide what our next rally platform is going to be, as it’s getting harder every year to keep a Mitsu Evo on the rally stage in terms of…

The technical distinction between PTU and t-cases is that t-cases are called torque splitters and PTU’s change the direction of the torque output.