McLaren 720S Gear Shifts are too Fast for a VBox Datalogger to Measure

The McLaren 720S can’t stop impressing us. Just last week we published an article featuring a compilation of 30 drag races featuring a McLaren 720S of which it won 28, losing only to a heavily modded Nissan GT-R and a Porsche 918 Spyder. More recently, it was Engineering Explained that brought to light the 720S’ another incredible performance credential – lightning fast gear shifts – fast enough to fool a VBox Datalogger.

Jason Fenske is popular for his videos that explain complex engineering concepts in ways that make it simpler for the laymen to understand. The channel also has heaps of content that cater to supercar enthusiasts. Fenske recently took a McLaren 720S out for a run to test out its shift times. For this purpose, he attached a VBox Sport to the car that logs forward momentum. If the shift lasted longer than 50 milliseconds, the data logger would be able to detect the blip in forward momentum that is experienced when a car changes gear. As it turns out, the data logger couldn’t record any blips in Comfort Mode and the graph is a straight line without any indication of when the shifts happened. In Track Mode, shifts were ever so slightly visible in the graph.

The 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 in the 720S comes mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox that McLaren calls “seamless-shift.” Well, Mclaren wasn’t overstating.