checkmate1996

The show was actually quite impressive and educational. However, I got a big laugh when they said that GM engineers came up with this amazing technology called a 'TORQUE - TUBE' to give the corvette an amazing 50/50 weight balance ....

dprantl

Hopefully it was not a laugh out loud, because they were right...

Dan
'91 928GT S/C 475hp/460lb.ft

hacker-pschorr

Yup, they stole it from the 1961 Pontiac Tempest, just like Porsche did

anonymousagain

...and now Pontiac is dead. Guess GM wasn't feeling the love for Pontiac's innovations over the years, as usual.

Black Sea RD

IIRC, there is a picture of a torn apart 928 in a Chevy lab work room while they were developing the new C5 drive line.

Funny that although the Chevy TT is a beefy aluminum unit with a hollow tube drive shaft, it has it's own share of problems.

Porsche really did a good job of designing the TT for the 924/944/968 and 928 variants.

dr bob

Torque tubes have been around since mid last century. The Tempest torque tube included the trans at the rear, and a permanently-flexed driveshaft to eliminate resonance problems. Just offset the middle bearing a bit. The Corvette engineers were the first to put a torque tube in a production Corvette; For that they should be appropriately proud.

VT928

The Alfa Romeo Alfetta sedan of the early 70's used a torque tube to connect the engine to a rear mounted transaxle. Alfa used a torgue tube in earlier cars to connect the transmission to the differential on cars with A De Dion rear suspension. The Ferrari Daytona produced in 1968 thru 1973 also used a torque tube to connect engine output to a rear mounted transaxle. In some regards there is very little that had not been done in automotive suspensions prior to the early 70's. The 928's passive steer rear axle may be one of the few exceptions. It is easy to forget how independent thought once was the norm of auto design. As a wise man once said, plagerism is the sincerest form of flattery.

Paul 1980 Euro S Red/Blk Lea

Optimator

Torque tubes were actually common on American cars until the late 1940’s. The early 60’s Tempest, in addition to IRS, a rear-mouted transaxle, and near 50/50 weight distribution, could also be ordered with the Buick/Olds 215 aluminum V8. With the 2-door body, this gives the car more than a slight resemblance to the 928

Funny how people criticized Pontiac for borrowing the GTO name from Ferrari, when at the same time Ferrari was appropriating Pontiac’s rear transaxle design for the 275 GTB. Ferrari’s first version used an open drive shaft. Shortly afterward, it was re-designed using torque tube to reduce NVH.

cali4sun

I opted to watch the Porsche 911 factory tour which was quite impressive I believe it was on last month.... Corvettes? I can't remember when I last saw one on the road

'89 S4 GP White/Black
'76 912E Silver/Black