Double-VANOS and variable-flow oil pump for maximum efficiency.
The new BMW V12 features double-VANOS infinitely adjustable camshaft timing control. This ensures optimal timing of the intake and exhaust valves for maximum power and efficiency at all engine speed and load combinations.
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A further advantage of double-VANOS is its support in giving the engine a particularly immediate responsiveness. The hot-forged camshafts come with additional triple cams on the intake side to drive the high-pressure fuel pumps. The valves on the exhaust side are sodium-filled and feature chrome-plated shafts for optimum cooling and longevity.
The supply of oil to the new V12 has also been optimized. The volume flow-controlled oil pump operates on individual demand for maximum efficiency. The six-chamber pendulum-slide pump delivers only as much oil as the engine requires at any given point in time under specific driving conditions.
The engine cooling system on the new BMW V12 features optimized cross-sections and a surface structure that ensures maximum heat exchange to warm-up the engine far more quickly than before. The arrangement of the coolant pipes next to the oil supply serves to thermally-join the oil and coolant, which again helps warm up engine oil and maintains the ideal temperature at all times. The flow of coolant on the two rows of cylinders runs diagonally from the rear outside to the front inside.
BMW’s outstanding competence in 12-cylinder technology: a long tradition of premium performance.
This is the fourth time that a BMW V12 engine marks the top of the engine portfolio featured in the BMW 7 Series. Every new generation has further reinforced BMW’s position as the leading manufacturer of luxury performance sedans. A BMW 7 Series with a V12 engine not only stands for exclusivity but for genuine innovation as well.
BMW’s competence in the development and production of V12 engines is based on a long tradition extending all the way back to 1925 when the Company hit the headlines for the first time by building an aircraft engine with 12 cylinders. Back then BMW’s V12 developed maximum output of 750 hp, with two BMW V12s powering the Dornier Wal seaplane in its record flight across the Atlantic just five years later.
In the second half of the 20th century BMW became the pioneer by introducing the V12 in its most outstanding luxury cars. The BMW 750i launched in 1987, for example, was the first German V12 sedan after the war. In the years to follow a long story of success in motorsport likewise contributed to the exceptional reputation of BMW’s V12s. The BMW V12 LMR, for example, dominated the racing scene right from the start in its very first race in 1999, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and in the same season clinched overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
World debut: 8-speed automatic transmission in the new BMW 760Li.
The unique qualities of the new V12 engine with Twin Turbo Technology and High Precision Direct Injection are combined in the new BMW 760Li Sedan with an equally innovative concept for the transmission: the newly developed 8-speed automatic transmission makes its world debut in a BMW production car. Ideally tailored to the power and performance characteristics of the V12 engine, the
8-speed automatic transmission combines premium shifting comfort, sportiness, and efficiency at a level never achieved before.
The new 8-speed automatic transmission excels through the innovative configuration of gears allowing the use of additional gears and a larger range of gear increments than on the former six-speed automatic transmission. It does so without any negative effects on the size of the transmission, its weight, and the inner efficiency of the system.
The eight forward gears and the reverse gear all incorporate four simple gears and five shifting elements. The innovative arrangement of these components, seen for the first time on an 8-speed automatic transmission, ensures that only two clutches are open in each gear at any given point in time, significantly reducing frictional losses under all driving conditions to an absolute minimum.
Over and above the wider range of gear increments and the high degree of internal efficiency, this arrangement contributes further to the outstanding overall efficiency of the new transmission system. The intelligent concept of this new
8-speed automatic transmission is right in line with the BMW EfficientDynamics development strategy.
Introduction of the first 8-speed automatic transmission in the BMW 760Li Sedan marks the starting point to a generation change in the area of power transmission systems. The six-speed automatic transmissions currently featured in all BMW model series already set the standard for shift comfort, reaction time, shifting speed. The first and foremost objective in developing the new generation of automatic transmissions, therefore, was to retain all the design features of the six-speed automatic transmission and set new standards in terms of driving comfort, performance and efficiency.
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Optimum gearing configuration as the result of scientific research.
To achieve significant progress over BMW’s proven six-speed automatic transmissions BMW’s engineers initiated an in-depth development process providing the basis for the new transmission right from the start. The initial consideration was that the desired improvement in efficiency was only going to be possible with a transmission system offering an even larger number of gears and a wider range of gear increments versus a six-speed automatic. Keeping the number of additional components to a minimum in order to optimize the inner efficiency of the transmission was also an objective.
Apart from BMW itself, a number of specialized partners in development such as ZF Friedrichshafen AG participated in the search for an optimum concept fulfilling all of these requirements. Working together closely, the complete team developed analytical methods in order to establish and balance the pros and cons of all theoretically conceivable variants of a planetary gear system. To begin with, both the number of gears was open as was the structure of the new transmission with its underlying concept. The fundamental objectives, therefore, were to achieve the highest conceivable standard of efficiency and to keep the new transmission as compact and light as possible.
Studies jointly conducted by engineers and scientists eventually led to a solution offering the best balance of internal efficiency and overall running qualities: a new automatic transmission with two additional gears and a gear increment range increased over six and seven speed units, with the number of gears being increased by only one to a total of four but with the number of clutches remaining unchanged. In other words, an entirely new 8-speed automatic.
Triple progress with two additional gears: shifting dynamics improved, comfort optimized, efficiency maximized.
Thanks to the larger range of gear increments now offered by the new transmission, the driver is able to use the highest gear at significantly reduced engine speed far more often than before. In the BMW 760Li, this not only optimizes the car’s efficiency particularly at higher speeds, but also enhances the smoothness and refinement of the BMW V12.
With the number of gears increased to eight, the individual steps between gears are smaller than before, despite the overall range of gear increments. This benefits the sporting character of the transmission and, as a result, the dynamic nature of the car in typical BMW style.
While accelerating the harmonious balance of gear ratios provides a very smooth and consistent increase in road speed, which corresponds ideally with the ongoing surge of power from the new V12, befitting a flagship model like the new BMW 760Li.
A further advantage of the small gear increments is the enhancement of shifting comfort in BMW’s most outstanding Luxury Performance Sedan, with only a slight change in engine speed when shifting from one gear to another.
The reaction and shifting times are even shorter than with the previous six-speed automatic transmission which benefits both driving comfort and driving dynamics because only one clutch has to be disengaged when shifting up or down either one or two gears. At the same time direct gear detection enables the driver to shift up or down by more than two gears, again with extremely short reaction and shifting times. And last but not least, the downshift from eighth to second gear particularly important for spontaneous acceleration also takes place as a direct gear change requiring the system to open only one clutch.
This particular configuration is of great significance for premium driving pleasure in the BMW 760Li, enabling the driver to use the higher gears for perfect efficiency and driving refinement particularly often while enjoying the car’s maximum performance spontaneously at all times.
Flexible, up-to-date, oriented to the future.
With the number of transmission components being increased only slightly over the former six-speed automatic transmission, the new 8-speed automatic offers an unusually high level of internal efficiency. So-called gear-mesh efficiency, for example, is more than 98 percent in each gear. In sixth, configured as a direct gear, frictional losses are reduced to zero.
The low weight of the new transmission is virtually identical to that of the previous six-speed automatic which benefits the overall efficiency of the 760Li. The integration of additional gearing is compensated for by the optimization of weight in other areas.
In all the minimum converter slip, the high degree of internal efficiency, low frictional losses with only two clutches open at a time, the longer transmission ratios on the higher gears and the transmission management giving preference to low engine speeds at all times offer a reduction of fuel consumption versus the former six-speed automatic by approximately 6 percent.
As a result of these improvements and highlights in technology, the new 8-speed automatic transmission is not only the optimum system currently available, but also a future-oriented solution for the transmission of power in a premium car.
The new transmission may be combined with all kinds of engines and levels of performance, and may be integrated not only in cars with rear-wheel drive, but also in all-wheel-drive models. At the same time the 8-speed automatic transmission may be combined with hybrid drive, making it part of BMW’s Active Hybrid technology combining an 8-cylinder gasoline engine with an electric motor. This innovative drive concept will reach production in the first hybrid model in the BMW 7 Series later in 2009.
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Setting the new standard in driving supremacy:
the new BMW 7 Series with BMW V12 engine and
8-speed automatic transmission.
Twelve cylinders and eight speeds – this combination re-defines the most premium standard of exclusivity and refinement in the luxury class. The drive technology featured in the new BMW 760Li Sedan makes a significant contribution to the significant innovation of power technology ensured by the BMW brand, the unique power and performance characteristics of the new V12 engine and the innovative concept of 8-speed automatic transmission joining forces to provide a truly fascinating driving experience.
Superior power is thus converted into equally superior driving dynamics with an exceptionally high standard of driving refinement. Offering premium smoothness and full availability of enormous power reserves at all times, the BMW V12 simply begs the driver and passengers to enjoy an unequalled driving experience wherever they go while experiencing sporting performance of the highest caliber.
The 8-speed automatic transmission perfectly supplements both the effortless and dynamic character of the engine. At the same time the exceptional efficiency of both top BMW 7 Series model results not just from the V12 engine, but from the transmission as well.
The outstanding position of the new BMW 760Li Sedan is further underlined by suspension technology specially developed for this Luxury Sedan, combining innovative driver assistance systems, a number of which are exclusive to BMW, with a wide range of comfort amenities all featured as standard. More than ever before the V12 7 Series meets the demands and requirements of the most discerning motorist seeking individual mobility of the highest caliber.
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