It really is pretty amazing how quickly paddle-shift became standard. It went from not finishing a race distance in testing in 1988, to winning its first race in 1989, winning the championship with Williams in 1992 and being used by every team from 1996.
I believe Jordan had stick sequential in at least one of there early-mid 90s cars. Specifically remember hearing Garry Anderson (Jordan's then technical director) discussing this on a podcast.
@@nilshartl883 They had it from 1994-1995 all the way until 2006, as did Japanese F3000 from the late 90s until 2006. They still had foot clutches too.
There are a couple of stories from that '89 Brazilian GP worth remembering. The Ferrari (gearbox) had been so unreliable in testing (barley able to do more than a couple of laps without breaking down) and Mansell had booked an early flight home - (and spent most of the race annoyed the car was still running and he was going to miss his flight). Also, during the race, there was indeed a problem with the gearbox - which was solved by changing the steering wheel during a pit stops (first stop to change 5 wheels?).
Truth is that the gearbox was working fine in testing, it’s that that the engine kept throwing the alternator belt, and the first thing that died was the gearbox electronics, hence it was said the the gearbox was why the car stopped….
@@Will_M600 It's also the truth. John Barnard talked about it in his interview with Motor Sport magazine three years ago. The interview is also where I'm guessing Aidan got the bit about Barnard pointing out that people working on the cars probably shouldn't be drinking wine at lunch.
An interesting anorak fact too - one of my favourite Arcade games ever (and favourite game generally) is 1989’s Super Monaco GP by Sega. This game features a 4 or 7 speed manual…with wheel mountedpaddles. It came out in May of 1989 in Japan, so it was developed over the course of 1988 - meaning that someone on the dev team at Sega was paying very close attention to Ferrari and F1 in general because it was released concurrently with the 1989 season and the 640.
yeah the sequel keeps the core of what made the game great and improves on it by increasing the difficulty, its not pretty hard to win in one of the midfield cars@@palm92
From what I remembered another reason for Ferrari going to paddle shifting was their V12 had a narrow rev band and Barnhard knew his system could allow a 7th ratio in the gearbox without having to find room in the cockpit for another position in the H pattern shift gate.
I remember watching the race's when Jim Hall's car with the wing ran. The pit reporters said the transmission was derived from a transit bus, so the flappy paddles made sense. Also remember the linkage with the wing breaking and he came in the pit and the mechanics ran out with hacksaws and cut off the wing.
I remember reading about paddle shifters in popular mechanics magazine before I actually started watching F1. Now the system has been in Honda Accords for 10 years!
But in the civic it’s just an electronic actuation for the automatic transmission, not a pedal shifted manual sequential transmission. There are similar systems out there, BMWs SMG comes to mind which is a manual transmission with a regular dry clutch but you shift it with pedals.
I feel your pain of having the shifter on the 'wrong' side. When I went to England on holiday in 2018, I took my own car, which is a left hand drive automatic, meaning I'd only have to deal with driving on the left side of the road. Earlier this year I went to Aberdeen and my company had rented a car for me, which naturally was a right hand drive car, manual gearbox. Probably some of the most dangerous driving I did! Anyway, great video once more. You deserve more subscribers. Your videos are always very informative.
For the Gen 3 V8 Supercars here in Australia, there was a strong push for them to have the flappy paddle shifting for the gearbox. However there was a strong backlash from the fans as they want to see the drivers doing stuff in the cabin. So the sport relented and now the series still use the semi sequential gear lever to change gears. The only reason V8 Supercars went to a sequential gear from using the old H pattern is due to drivers in the past would often miss a gear which caused the engines to over rev therefore costing the teams money. Fun Fact #1. When the sequential gear lever was introduced, Brad Jones Racing still used the H pattern for a while as he thought it was a faster system even though he was the only team to do so. Fun Fact #2. When Greg Murphy did the Lap of the Gods at Mt Panorama he actually missed a gear during that lap as the old H pattern was still in use.
Talking about racing, while having a wrestling t shirt on, and guitar gear in the background. You somehow cover all of my favorite hobbyist/fan obsessions in one shot. A man of discerning taste.
Brazil 1989. The first F1 race I remember watching - due to Mansell's Ferrari debut and a local boy (to me) Johnny Herbert having his first F1 race. I do remember learning what pit stops were really for at this race, but I was confused as Murray Walker was as to why they changed 5 wheels at one of them. Only years later did I find out it was all rooted in bleeding-edge technology.
The story goes that nobody at Ferrari expected to finish the first race of '89 at Rio, as the gearbox had never managed anywhere near a full race distance in testing. Everyone expected it to fail before long. Then midway through the race a strange noise came over the radio... it was Nigel Mansell merrily singing Mary Had a Little Lamb without a care in the world while leading the race. xD
I remember in 1989 Ferrari wouldn't finish any race cause the gears would break (of course from memory but as said on video they did finished a couple) There is a free video on RUclips with Senna testing the Honda NSX in Suzuka with a camera showing his feet doing the 'punta-taco' (not sure if Spanish or Italian but it was the 'norm' for a long time) And I was smiling to myself from the very beginning of the video just waiting to hear about Roberto Moreno cause I knew he was part of the developing team 😂😂
Perhaps I'm just old, but to me those Ferrari 640 - 643 series of cars were the best looking Ferrari F1 cars and perhaps some of the best looking F1 cars of all time. They sounded great with the V12 and the semi-auto gear changes too.
Decades ago I remember see a racing clip of a driver using the stickshift cause paddle shift mechanism broke. Wish I could find it. Outstanding video. Glad to know more about this devices history 👏👏👏👏🏁
@@tosehoed123 you can do it on a sequential gearbox or more modern automatic. In Porsche 911 GT3 you can shift either by paddles or using the automatic gearlever. Same with Pagani Huayra, you can use either the paddleshift or the gearbox lever.
At around the time of the Canadian Grand Prix, someone at Ferrari used a high speed film camera and filmed a V12 on the dyno. The engine only had 3 main bearings and was bending the crankshaft, causing too much stress on the clutch and gearbox and the gearbox broke. The following year, 1990, the engine now had 5 main bearings and the clutch and gearbox was much happier. Turns out that John's Flappy Paddle design was alright all along. You need to do a video about John Barnard and his innovations to F1 and motorsport.
i basically sit around waiting for you to do your version of these because you approach them with such a clinical strain of racing autism no other youtuber can match.....cant wait to see you hit a million being real!
I can just about remember prewar vehicles without synchromesh which had accelerator pedals 3-4" longer than the other two, so that you could blip them with your right heel when braking. Because if you didn't, you got an expensive-sounding crunch from the gearbox when changing down.
I was a young teenager with a little experience driving dad's car around empty car parks on Sunday evenings when the flappy paddle semi-automatic ferrari was introduced. It seemed like the most futuristic sci fi piece of magic technology ever when at the start of the F1 season we heard it explained (I guess by Murray Walker??), and it totally blew our minds.
I would love to know if it was Clarkson who first use the phrase “Flappy Paddle Gearbox”…… It might not have been but I certainly associate it with him…
That 1989 Brazilian GP was a story in itself and the one I truly felt for that day was Derek Warwick. The Briton finished 5th, 18 seconds behind Mansell in the Ferrari. The problem for Warwick was that Arrows stuffed up one of his two pit stops and in his 2nd stop he was stationary for 25 seconds instead of the usual 6-9 that F1 tyre stops were back in the day. Do the math. Had Arrows mechanics not stuffed that stop Warwick wins by about 7 seconds. Instead, he finished 5th.
Ah yes, my favourite type of gearbox. I had one of those generic Ferrari 458 wheels for my Xbox a while back, and while most of it was shit, the flappy paddles were fantastic. I really wish more "regular" road cars had the option for them, they're really satisfying to use compared to pushbuttons on the side of the shifter on most modern automatics.
I still have one of those Ferrari 458 Thrustmaster wheels. It has no FFB and has been carrying me throughout sim racing through years and the flappys feel AMAZING
I had that wheel. Still have it actually. Saying that just been playing the new WRC game and one of them fell off on a wheel that’s worth three times as much.
I drove an automatic Citroen C3 with paddles, it was horrible. I was driving in the Alps and put back the gearbox in full auto mode since it was so bad. On the other hand, I drove an Alfa Romeo Giulia and even though it was a diesel, I absolutely loved it.
Definitely do the video on the Canadian GP. I think it'll surprise some people! Really interesting video on the flappy paddle. I've often wondered what the drivers thought about them. Cheers!
I remember this - it seemed to continually break throughout pre season testing. Then it won the first GP in Rio, Brazil...... And from memory, Benetton in 1993 had an automatic downshifter, operated on the steering wheel. The only major series nowadays that doesn't use 'flappy paddles' is the WRC.....using a sequential shifter.
Well until recent history NASCAR used 4 speed H pattern boxes with a clutch. I've always found it interesting WRC not using paddles but im guessing the need to grab the handbrake probably has something to do with it.
@@bmstylee I haven't watched WRC in a few years so I have no idea what they are doing now but years ago, many teams were using a flappy paddle except it was a ring behind the wheel you pulled for upshifts, pushed forward with your fingers for downshifts. One team (I think it was Subaru but could be wrong) put an H pattern shifter in the car but you could still shift it sequentially from the wheel. The H pattern was to allow the driver to quickly grab any gear regardless of what gear the car was in before. Really useful if you went off the road in 5th and needed to quickly grab reverse or 1st to get back on the road.
One of the few things that still sound good in F1, is the consecutive downshifts because they're so inhumanly fast. And the same goes for road cars that I've driven with the single clutch system. Brutal yes, but sounds and feels great.
John Barnard was kinda lucky in a way with the semi-automatic transmission at Ferrari. A lot of their engineers hated the concept as being too complicated, though it coming from Barnard probably had something to do with its unpopularity at Maranello. But one person thought it was a great idea and thus Barnard was given what he needed to get it done. The old man loved it and could see the advantages. Without that behind the scenes support from Enzo himself, Barnard had little hope of getting it done, at Ferrari at least.
Hello Aidan: Thank you for this. It's my understanding that the Hewland gearboxes used in the Lotus 49 and many other cars, only need to clutch to get rolling. Once the car was moving, the clutch wasn't needed. I wanted to check the spelling of "Hewland" so I did a search for them. It's very pleasing to see that they are still in business. Have a good day.
I think you ride the clutch on old manual f1 cars to stop them stalling when pulling away, then once moving, pretty sure you need the clutch on the way up and down the gearbox. It’s still only a straight cut manual box after all.
He mentions it in the video but didn't really explain. Most any manual CAN be shifted up and down without a clutch. It's really not that hard. Problem is it can be very hard on synchros or dog rings (usually dog rings for a racing tranny but synchros have the same problem) and remember, this is an age famous for bad reliability. So you would see a mix of styles. Some drivers not using the clutch at all, some using it only for downshifts and some using it on all shifts. Of course could also vary depending on what tranny it is. Some are better at putting up with it than others
@@wingracer1614 most used a hewland or hewland derived box back when the whole field was manual. Plenty of styles like you say, Alberto used to not use the clutch and bang it in second and blow his dfv up a lot, lots of drivers block shifted on downshifts as well, Berger, boutson, Prost.
The Ferrari gearbox used a normal box with a potentiometer to measure engine revs but the battery wasnt powerful enough to power the unit... hence it kept breaking down. The Williams FW14 used a barrel gearbox like a motorbike with hydraulic valves to measure engine revs.
I'm able to shift with either hand, but I grew up on a farm... I learned on farm tractors with non-standard shift patterns, a second and sometimes 3rd gear range shifters, and not to mention that those tractors have hand throttles... But I also play racing games with paddles... Put me in it, I can shift it... 🤣🤣🤣
Ah the 640. Nigel Mansell is my favourite racing driver ever. When he won his first Grand Prix in the Ferrari at Brazil, I thought that it would be the season when he finally won the World Championship. Which he probably would have done, but for the reliability of the car. Mainly the gearbox if i remember correctly. His other victory in 1989 at the Hungarian Grand Prix showed that it would have been possible if his car had the reliability of the McClaren for example........
I remember when this happened. By that time I was a raging open wheel fanatic, F1, Indycar and the lower levels. Another thing the flappy paddle and sequential in Indycar revolution took away from the H box pattern cars were shifts to incorrect gears and the resulting destruction of gearboxes and engines.
Speaking of shifters being on the right side of the car... it's impressive how well you can use your non-dominant hand once you learn. I'm solidly right handed but flying most airplanes is done with the left hand on the yoke/stick and right hand for throttle/mixture/prop. You'd think that having your non-dominant on the control that needs the most finesse would be an issue but it just isn't.
The last gen V8 Supercar was my ideal driver control setup. I miss watching SVG manipulate ARB's, Brake Bias, 3 pedals and the wheel. Removing, or confining all those driver inputs to buttons and knobs I can't watch as a fan sucks. I was amazed at the amount of changes V8 drivers were making to bars and bias per corner, and it was instructive to actually see it.
Indycar drivers do something similar at a few of the ovals, Pocono in particular was absolute mayhem before they took it off the calendar for safety reasons. You had drivers attacking the front and rear anti-roll bars, the weight jacker, and the brake bias, plus two gear changes between every corner.
I believe the Chaparral 2F has the moving wing. First pic on wikipedia article, see the actuator rods on the back of the struts. If I remember right, wing angle of attack was increased via the brake pedal: hit the brakes, lots more drag+rear downforce. Not sure what flattened it on the straights, I should dig out my old books.
Since the 2F had an automatic transmission and needed no clutch pedal, Jim Hall put in a left pedal to flatten the wings on the straights when the pedal was applied.
When Chaparall put a wing on the car it was a huge wing. Hall also used a 2 speed GM auto Transmission developed from the Powerglide Transmission. Ford we’re developing through KarKraft I believe a similar transmission for the J Car version of the Ford GT. Unfortunately after the rule change in Endurance racing in 1968, development was stopped. Mansell at Hockelheim in the Ferrari with the paddle shift was something to watch.
I've read/heard that although these systems are extremely expensive, they are considered to be cheaper over the season because they are harder for the drivers to break.
Wonder what i would be like if they decided to go back to H pattern today. How different would the cars drive/how much slower, and how long would it take modern drivers to adapt. Would be really interesting. Also would be interesting if they removed power steering.
H-Pattern with 8 gears and a reverse seems like a nightmare honestly, but the power steering I think could be too dangerous on fast corners. The old Group C cars were already hard to drive, and their downforce is simple compared to F1. In WRC, occasionally someone knocks out their power steering from an impact and instantly loses all chance of a decent result and just tries to get through it at around 50-80kph
H-Pattern with 8 gears and a reverse seems like a nightmare honestly, but the power steering I think could be too dangerous on fast corners. The old Group C cars were already hard to drive, and their downforce is simple compared to F1. In WRC, occasionally someone knocks out their power steering from an impact and instantly loses all chance of a decent result and just tries to get through it at around 50-80kph
Another thing about H-patterns is that accommodating one in a F1 car (or any single seater for that matter) does create a slight asymmetry in the car's bodywork, and this would affect aero. This was another reason why Barnard introduced the system.
I believe the main thinking behind most manual race cars had their shifter on the right is that most circuits are clockwise, and a weight bias slightly to the right would result in a faster lap time(similar thinking in nascar). For example Le mans is clockwise so most endurance cars have their shifters on the right.
If you rev match on down shifts you don't need to use a clutch and going up the box just lift and slot it into gear. Don't do it with your own car but I always drive curtesy cars without using the clutch. It's amazing how quickly you get it bang on every time. It's very rewarding and easier to do when you are pushing on a bit.
Barnard explained himself in many interviews that his main reason was to not have the gear linkage interfere with the aerodynamics he wanted underneath the car.
I have to think drivers ultimately also appreciate that, when heavy braking from 200kph to 60kph and downshifting three gears while negotiating a hairpin, they can now keep both hands on the wheel while they do it lol.
The best reason for going back to an H pattern shift is that it would place a premium on driver skill and mechanical sympathy. The ability to change gear used to be one of the things that separated the wheat from the chaff.
The best reason for going back to manually-adjusted valve timing and having just one big lever to brake is that it would place a premium on driver skill and mechanical sympathy. The ability to crank-start your own car used to be one of the things that separated the wheat from the chaff.
@@n8pls543 Personally, I mourn the loss of skill when they stopped the chariots at the Constantinople Hippodrome. But also, as an OG who can heel/toe faster than a millennial can swipe left, it pains me some when I'm iRacing a stick shift car just like a real one, and I'm a second down to youngsters using flappy paddles.
There is this fun fact about John Barnard's move to Ferrari. Back at McLaren, people seemed to notice that John copied a lot of his stuffs into his folder. Then they found out that John is moving to Ferrari. Steve Nichols said that when a conversation occurred on the upper floor, where John was stationed, it was just a mumble when heard from his office. This time round, when Ron Dennis entered John's room, Steve can hear every single words loud and clear. I don't think Ron was particularly enthused with John moving to Ferrari. ALSO FUN FACT: In older flappy-paddled cars like 430 Scuderia, Lexus LFA, Aston V12 Vantage S and e-gear-equipped Lamborghinis (Murcielago and Gallardo) plus Aventador, you do need to do heel-and-toe to downshift. And below, say, 4000rpm, do lift-off while doing upshifts. However, beyond 4000 or 5000rpm just keep your foot down the throttle for that maximum whipcrack upshifts. By doing all that, you will actually smooths out the gearchange during downshifts (and upshifts below 4k rpm) and help with clutch engagement and disengagement, meaning you can prolong your clutch wear, keeping it as minimum as possible. Also, it is a lot more involving that way. In the past I am in that dichotomy of either ultrasmooth double clutches or slick manuals. But nowadays I found these type of robotised manual having their own charms. Especially in the likes of 430 Scuderia and GranTurismo MC Stradale (same gearbox and software, by the way).
And in the face of this, Toyota develops an electronic third pedal / gearshift lever for electric cars, complete with software that can simulate stalling. See the Ars Technica article from a few days ago.
Not to be pedantic, but Jim Hall wrote about the Chaparral 2E and how they achieve what they did. It didn't have a semiautomatic gearbox. What it did have was a 2-speed, later 3-speed, dog box with a hydramatic torque converter in place of a clutch.
Yep. Anyone that watches Cleetus McFarland's youtube channel may be familiar with the concept thanks to McFlurry being a 5 speed Lynco transmission with a torque converter instead of a clutch.
Actually many of the race cars on the 1940’s & 1950’s had preselector gearboxes, you would put the transmission in the gear then press the clutch & bingo proper gear!!!😊
Brazil 89 was the first gp I ever watched and had already declared myself a Ferrari fan way before watching or knowing anything about the sport at all. When Mansell won I thought wasn’t I the clever one choosing the best team. Eh yeah it went a bit downhill after that. Then the Schumacher era arrived. My wait for glory was over. However I’m back to waiting again. I heard a rumour that next year will be our year and I can only assume that’s true. But I assume that every year. That being clever and picking the right team thing hasn’t really happened.
The main reason for the gearbox was largely aerodynamic, not the ease and quickness of changing gears. Indeed, the earlier versions of the gearbox were only marginally faster than their manual counterpart.
Another reason teams wanted to stick with them was cost. Fewer mis-shifts equals fewer damaged engines and gear boxes. Unfortunately, that also robbed drivers of a means of overtaking - pressuring a driver into making a mistake and missing a gear shift. Ron Dennis also thought it was a big deal that cars could now be completely symmetrical. But I don't know how big a deal that really was...
Imagine being able to work in the Ferrari GTO office when the GTO is your favorite Ferrari You can't tell me Barnard thought about that acronym before submitting the business application to the govt/name suggestion to Ferrari
I remember watching Nigel Mansell driving the Ferrari, after the first win it all seemed up hill, a winning car than failed most races, only getting reliable by the end of Prost first year. Mansell then left for Williams where he then had another hard time getting active everything to work. Wins the championship then Prost get the car, then Sener got the car. We all know that sad story. Some time when Mansell was driving the Ferrari he got squeezed by Berger along the strait and got two wheels on the grass which dragged the other two on till the car spun 180, then another 180. Mansel accelerated to have another go at Berger.
Great video as always. Evidently during the F1-89/639/640’s development there was also a car Ferrari created with a V12 and conventional manual that Alboreto drove (he did not like the sequential, or rather did not trust it.) alongside Bernard’s. I’m unsure if it was the 639 or a modified F1/87/88C.
![Ferrari F2004 - Pure Onboard Sound V10 Engine [2004 F1 season]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/m8mgAXhNNPo/mqdefault.jpg)
Fun fact: Roberto Moreno has one of the first flappy paddle steering wheels from his time as a Ferrari test driver as a gift
It really is pretty amazing how quickly paddle-shift became standard. It went from not finishing a race distance in testing in 1988, to winning its first race in 1989, winning the championship with Williams in 1992 and being used by every team from 1996.
I always wondered how would f1 cars looked like with sequential stick, like rally cars and late 90s carts had, here is an idea for another video😉
I believe Jordan had stick sequential in at least one of there early-mid 90s cars. Specifically remember hearing Garry Anderson (Jordan's then technical director) discussing this on a podcast.
this got me thinking about the pull/push paddle in 2000s rally cars
Didnˋt Champcar have that in the 90s aswell
@@craigcalladine851 Was it the 1992 192? I think that was a 7-Speed Sequential Manual with a lever.
@@nilshartl883 They had it from 1994-1995 all the way until 2006, as did Japanese F3000 from the late 90s until 2006. They still had foot clutches too.
There are a couple of stories from that '89 Brazilian GP worth remembering.
The Ferrari (gearbox) had been so unreliable in testing (barley able to do more than a couple of laps without breaking down) and Mansell had booked an early flight home - (and spent most of the race annoyed the car was still running and he was going to miss his flight).
Also, during the race, there was indeed a problem with the gearbox - which was solved by changing the steering wheel during a pit stops (first stop to change 5 wheels?).
Truth is that the gearbox was working fine in testing, it’s that that the engine kept throwing the alternator belt, and the first thing that died was the gearbox electronics, hence it was said the the gearbox was why the car stopped….
@@patrickparisienne1917lmao that's the most Ferrari thing I've ever read
@@Will_M600 It's also the truth. John Barnard talked about it in his interview with Motor Sport magazine three years ago. The interview is also where I'm guessing Aidan got the bit about Barnard pointing out that people working on the cars probably shouldn't be drinking wine at lunch.
An interesting anorak fact too - one of my favourite Arcade games ever (and favourite game generally) is 1989’s Super Monaco GP by Sega. This game features a 4 or 7 speed manual…with wheel mountedpaddles. It came out in May of 1989 in Japan, so it was developed over the course of 1988 - meaning that someone on the dev team at Sega was paying very close attention to Ferrari and F1 in general because it was released concurrently with the 1989 season and the 640.
Cool catch.
The mega drive port is my favorite game of all time! Spent many many a hour playing it and the awesome sequel which is licenced by senna.
@@djberryhardkore It’s great! (and very different too.)
yeah the sequel keeps the core of what made the game great and improves on it by increasing the difficulty, its not pretty hard to win in one of the midfield cars@@palm92
From what I remembered another reason for Ferrari going to paddle shifting was their V12 had a narrow rev band and Barnhard knew his system could allow a 7th ratio in the gearbox without having to find room in the cockpit for another position in the H pattern shift gate.
This reminds me of my first time seeing Super Monaco GP with the flappy paddles in the arcades and being super excited!
I remember watching the race's when Jim Hall's car with the wing ran. The pit reporters said the transmission was derived from a transit bus, so the flappy paddles made sense. Also remember the linkage with the wing breaking and he came in the pit and the mechanics ran out with hacksaws and cut off the wing.
I remember reading about paddle shifters in popular mechanics magazine before I actually started watching F1. Now the system has been in Honda Accords for 10 years!
But in the civic it’s just an electronic actuation for the automatic transmission, not a pedal shifted manual sequential transmission.
There are similar systems out there, BMWs SMG comes to mind which is a manual transmission with a regular dry clutch but you shift it with pedals.
I feel your pain of having the shifter on the 'wrong' side. When I went to England on holiday in 2018, I took my own car, which is a left hand drive automatic, meaning I'd only have to deal with driving on the left side of the road. Earlier this year I went to Aberdeen and my company had rented a car for me, which naturally was a right hand drive car, manual gearbox. Probably some of the most dangerous driving I did!
Anyway, great video once more. You deserve more subscribers. Your videos are always very informative.
For the Gen 3 V8 Supercars here in Australia, there was a strong push for them to have the flappy paddle shifting for the gearbox. However there was a strong backlash from the fans as they want to see the drivers doing stuff in the cabin. So the sport relented and now the series still use the semi sequential gear lever to change gears. The only reason V8 Supercars went to a sequential gear from using the old H pattern is due to drivers in the past would often miss a gear which caused the engines to over rev therefore costing the teams money.
Fun Fact #1. When the sequential gear lever was introduced, Brad Jones Racing still used the H pattern for a while as he thought it was a faster system even though he was the only team to do so.
Fun Fact #2. When Greg Murphy did the Lap of the Gods at Mt Panorama he actually missed a gear during that lap as the old H pattern was still in use.
Talking about racing, while having a wrestling t shirt on, and guitar gear in the background. You somehow cover all of my favorite hobbyist/fan obsessions in one shot. A man of discerning taste.
Brazil 1989. The first F1 race I remember watching - due to Mansell's Ferrari debut and a local boy (to me) Johnny Herbert having his first F1 race. I do remember learning what pit stops were really for at this race, but I was confused as Murray Walker was as to why they changed 5 wheels at one of them. Only years later did I find out it was all rooted in bleeding-edge technology.
The story goes that nobody at Ferrari expected to finish the first race of '89 at Rio, as the gearbox had never managed anywhere near a full race distance in testing. Everyone expected it to fail before long. Then midway through the race a strange noise came over the radio... it was Nigel Mansell merrily singing Mary Had a Little Lamb without a care in the world while leading the race. xD
I think there was a story that Nigel had booked a early flight as he didn’t expect to be there by the end of the race. I’m sure I heard that somewhere
That sounds familiar, I think you're right. 😀
The timing for the comment about coming back down the gears as you crashed over the cliff edge.
A Roberto Moreno sized chef's kiss.
I remember in 1989 Ferrari wouldn't finish any race cause the gears would break (of course from memory but as said on video they did finished a couple)
There is a free video on RUclips with Senna testing the Honda NSX in Suzuka with a camera showing his feet doing the 'punta-taco' (not sure if Spanish or Italian but it was the 'norm' for a long time)
And I was smiling to myself from the very beginning of the video just waiting to hear about Roberto Moreno cause I knew he was part of the developing team 😂😂
The vid can be found here under "Ayrton Senna's Heel-and-toe"
Perhaps I'm just old, but to me those Ferrari 640 - 643 series of cars were the best looking Ferrari F1 cars and perhaps some of the best looking F1 cars of all time. They sounded great with the V12 and the semi-auto gear changes too.
100% agree
Decades ago I remember see a racing clip of a driver using the stickshift cause paddle shift mechanism broke. Wish I could find it.
Outstanding video. Glad to know more about this devices history 👏👏👏👏🏁
Probably not. You wouldnt build 2 different transmissions on a single car
@@tosehoed123 you can do it on a sequential gearbox or more modern automatic. In Porsche 911 GT3 you can shift either by paddles or using the automatic gearlever. Same with Pagani Huayra, you can use either the paddleshift or the gearbox lever.
At around the time of the Canadian Grand Prix, someone at Ferrari used a high speed film camera and filmed a V12 on the dyno.
The engine only had 3 main bearings and was bending the crankshaft, causing too much stress on the clutch and gearbox and the gearbox broke.
The following year, 1990, the engine now had 5 main bearings and the clutch and gearbox was much happier.
Turns out that John's Flappy Paddle design was alright all along.
You need to do a video about John Barnard and his innovations to F1 and motorsport.
i basically sit around waiting for you to do your version of these because you approach them with such a clinical strain of racing autism no other youtuber can match.....cant wait to see you hit a million being real!
Remember that Ferrari tried for a semi automatic (flappy paddle like, think it was buttons) semi automatic gearbox in the Ferrari 312 T5 or T4 in 1980
Yup, Forghieri and Villeneuve tried it once upon a time. Villeneuve didn’t like it, so it never went beyond just a testing oddity.
Damn those cars are just beautiful. The simplicity, the elegance of the lines....the v12 song....Barnard penned some beauties.
I can just about remember prewar vehicles without synchromesh which had accelerator pedals 3-4" longer than the other two, so that you could blip them with your right heel when braking. Because if you didn't, you got an expensive-sounding crunch from the gearbox when changing down.
Or a Toyota Tacoma 😂
We have to give a lot of credit to you favourite driver, my compatriot Roberto Moreno for all the development testing he did
I was a young teenager with a little experience driving dad's car around empty car parks on Sunday evenings when the flappy paddle semi-automatic ferrari was introduced. It seemed like the most futuristic sci fi piece of magic technology ever when at the start of the F1 season we heard it explained (I guess by Murray Walker??), and it totally blew our minds.
I would love to know if it was Clarkson who first use the phrase “Flappy Paddle Gearbox”……
It might not have been but I certainly associate it with him…
That 1989 Brazilian GP was a story in itself and the one I truly felt for that day was Derek Warwick. The Briton finished 5th, 18 seconds behind Mansell in the Ferrari. The problem for Warwick was that Arrows stuffed up one of his two pit stops and in his 2nd stop he was stationary for 25 seconds instead of the usual 6-9 that F1 tyre stops were back in the day.
Do the math. Had Arrows mechanics not stuffed that stop Warwick wins by about 7 seconds. Instead, he finished 5th.
On the topic of cool heel and toe videos: There's also one on YT of Senna doing it in a Honda NSX around Suzuka, wearing Mocassins.
Ah yes, my favourite type of gearbox. I had one of those generic Ferrari 458 wheels for my Xbox a while back, and while most of it was shit, the flappy paddles were fantastic. I really wish more "regular" road cars had the option for them, they're really satisfying to use compared to pushbuttons on the side of the shifter on most modern automatics.
I still have one of those Ferrari 458 Thrustmaster wheels. It has no FFB and has been carrying me throughout sim racing through years and the flappys feel AMAZING
I had that wheel. Still have it actually.
Saying that just been playing the new WRC game and one of them fell off on a wheel that’s worth three times as much.
Lots of cars have them.
Theyre irritating.
I drove an automatic Citroen C3 with paddles, it was horrible. I was driving in the Alps and put back the gearbox in full auto mode since it was so bad.
On the other hand, I drove an Alfa Romeo Giulia and even though it was a diesel, I absolutely loved it.
Back in the day of the H patten gearshift, the drivers used to wear holes in their RH glove with all the gearchanges necessary at Monaco.
Definitely do the video on the Canadian GP. I think it'll surprise some people!
Really interesting video on the flappy paddle. I've often wondered what the drivers thought about them. Cheers!
Wow of all people I can't believe you left this story this late!!
In a good way I mean!! And what great story!!
I remember this - it seemed to continually break throughout pre season testing. Then it won the first GP in Rio, Brazil......
And from memory, Benetton in 1993 had an automatic downshifter, operated on the steering wheel.
The only major series nowadays that doesn't use 'flappy paddles' is the WRC.....using a sequential shifter.
...which is essentially a flappy paddle that isn't on the steering wheel!
Well until recent history NASCAR used 4 speed H pattern boxes with a clutch. I've always found it interesting WRC not using paddles but im guessing the need to grab the handbrake probably has something to do with it.
@@bmstylee I haven't watched WRC in a few years so I have no idea what they are doing now but years ago, many teams were using a flappy paddle except it was a ring behind the wheel you pulled for upshifts, pushed forward with your fingers for downshifts. One team (I think it was Subaru but could be wrong) put an H pattern shifter in the car but you could still shift it sequentially from the wheel. The H pattern was to allow the driver to quickly grab any gear regardless of what gear the car was in before. Really useful if you went off the road in 5th and needed to quickly grab reverse or 1st to get back on the road.
One of the few things that still sound good in F1, is the consecutive downshifts because they're so inhumanly fast. And the same goes for road cars that I've driven with the single clutch system. Brutal yes, but sounds and feels great.
John Barnard was kinda lucky in a way with the semi-automatic transmission at Ferrari. A lot of their engineers hated the concept as being too complicated, though it coming from Barnard probably had something to do with its unpopularity at Maranello. But one person thought it was a great idea and thus Barnard was given what he needed to get it done.
The old man loved it and could see the advantages. Without that behind the scenes support from Enzo himself, Barnard had little hope of getting it done, at Ferrari at least.
Hello Aidan: Thank you for this. It's my understanding that the Hewland gearboxes used in the Lotus 49 and many other cars, only need to clutch to get rolling. Once the car was moving, the clutch wasn't needed. I wanted to check the spelling of "Hewland" so I did a search for them. It's very pleasing to see that they are still in business. Have a good day.
I think you ride the clutch on old manual f1 cars to stop them stalling when pulling away, then once moving, pretty sure you need the clutch on the way up and down the gearbox. It’s still only a straight cut manual box after all.
He mentions it in the video but didn't really explain. Most any manual CAN be shifted up and down without a clutch. It's really not that hard. Problem is it can be very hard on synchros or dog rings (usually dog rings for a racing tranny but synchros have the same problem) and remember, this is an age famous for bad reliability. So you would see a mix of styles. Some drivers not using the clutch at all, some using it only for downshifts and some using it on all shifts. Of course could also vary depending on what tranny it is. Some are better at putting up with it than others
@@wingracer1614 most used a hewland or hewland derived box back when the whole field was manual. Plenty of styles like you say, Alberto used to not use the clutch and bang it in second and blow his dfv up a lot, lots of drivers block shifted on downshifts as well, Berger, boutson, Prost.
Awesome video
Glossed over the fact that originally they weren’t even flappy paddles but buttons. -U10
The Ferrari gearbox used a normal box with a potentiometer to measure engine revs but the battery wasnt powerful enough to power the unit... hence it kept breaking down.
The Williams FW14 used a barrel gearbox like a motorbike with hydraulic valves to measure engine revs.
I'm able to shift with either hand, but I grew up on a farm... I learned on farm tractors with non-standard shift patterns, a second and sometimes 3rd gear range shifters, and not to mention that those tractors have hand throttles... But I also play racing games with paddles... Put me in it, I can shift it... 🤣🤣🤣
Walter Rohrl's foot work in the Opel Manta 400 is filmed and is availible on You Tube.
That was really interesting, excellent stuff!!
Ah the 640. Nigel Mansell is my favourite racing driver ever. When he won his first Grand Prix in the Ferrari at Brazil, I thought that it would be the season when he finally won the World Championship. Which he probably would have done, but for the reliability of the car. Mainly the gearbox if i remember correctly. His other victory in 1989 at the Hungarian Grand Prix showed that it would have been possible if his car had the reliability of the McClaren for example........
I remember when this happened. By that time I was a raging open wheel fanatic, F1, Indycar and the lower levels. Another thing the flappy paddle and sequential in Indycar revolution took away from the H box pattern cars were shifts to incorrect gears and the resulting destruction of gearboxes and engines.
Speaking of shifters being on the right side of the car... it's impressive how well you can use your non-dominant hand once you learn.
I'm solidly right handed but flying most airplanes is done with the left hand on the yoke/stick and right hand for throttle/mixture/prop. You'd think that having your non-dominant on the control that needs the most finesse would be an issue but it just isn't.
The last gen V8 Supercar was my ideal driver control setup. I miss watching SVG manipulate ARB's, Brake Bias, 3 pedals and the wheel. Removing, or confining all those driver inputs to buttons and knobs I can't watch as a fan sucks. I was amazed at the amount of changes V8 drivers were making to bars and bias per corner, and it was instructive to actually see it.
Indycar drivers do something similar at a few of the ovals, Pocono in particular was absolute mayhem before they took it off the calendar for safety reasons. You had drivers attacking the front and rear anti-roll bars, the weight jacker, and the brake bias, plus two gear changes between every corner.
The Mass Damper was awesome and practical.
Aidan "We're taking a break from safety stuff."
Me "Another plus for paddle shifters, they're safer. The driver can keep both hands on the wheel."
I believe the Chaparral 2F has the moving wing. First pic on wikipedia article, see the actuator rods on the back of the struts. If I remember right, wing angle of attack was increased via the brake pedal: hit the brakes, lots more drag+rear downforce. Not sure what flattened it on the straights, I should dig out my old books.
Since the 2F had an automatic transmission and needed no clutch pedal, Jim Hall put in a left pedal to flatten the wings on the straights when the pedal was applied.
When Chaparall put a wing on the car it was a huge wing. Hall also used a 2 speed GM auto Transmission developed from the Powerglide Transmission. Ford we’re developing through KarKraft I believe a similar transmission for the J Car version of the Ford GT. Unfortunately after the rule change in Endurance racing in 1968, development was stopped. Mansell at Hockelheim in the Ferrari with the paddle shift was something to watch.
I've read/heard that although these systems are extremely expensive, they are considered to be cheaper over the season because they are harder for the drivers to break.
Again, another awesome video!!!!!
Wonder what i would be like if they decided to go back to H pattern today. How different would the cars drive/how much slower, and how long would it take modern drivers to adapt. Would be really interesting. Also would be interesting if they removed power steering.
H-Pattern with 8 gears and a reverse seems like a nightmare honestly, but the power steering I think could be too dangerous on fast corners. The old Group C cars were already hard to drive, and their downforce is simple compared to F1. In WRC, occasionally someone knocks out their power steering from an impact and instantly loses all chance of a decent result and just tries to get through it at around 50-80kph
H-Pattern with 8 gears and a reverse seems like a nightmare honestly, but the power steering I think could be too dangerous on fast corners. The old Group C cars were already hard to drive, and their downforce is simple compared to F1. In WRC, occasionally someone knocks out their power steering from an impact and instantly loses all chance of a decent result and just tries to get through it at around 50-80kph
Would be cool to do a video on the now everyday tech on normal cars that was developed in F1.
Another thing about H-patterns is that accommodating one in a F1 car (or any single seater for that matter) does create a slight asymmetry in the car's bodywork, and this would affect aero.
This was another reason why Barnard introduced the system.
Just checked a video on Mansell's DQ at Canada. Wild stuff.
Another shifting “twinkle-toes” cam to check out is Ricky Rudd at Sonoma from the mid-90s. Like ballet 🩰 🙌😎🏁
We need a Roberto Moreno feature length special for 100k
At this point we need a video about Roberto Moreno’s F1 career.
Crazy that today even a Diesel Mercedes estate has flappy paddles
I believe the main thinking behind most manual race cars had their shifter on the right is that most circuits are clockwise, and a weight bias slightly to the right would result in a faster lap time(similar thinking in nascar). For example Le mans is clockwise so most endurance cars have their shifters on the right.
Not a paddle shift, but the Porsche 962 had push button shift on the wheel around 85?
Game changer...
Another quality production...
The Ferrari 640 was such a beautiful car
Motorcycles have had sequential shifters for ages, both hand shift & foot shift…
If you rev match on down shifts you don't need to use a clutch and going up the box just lift and slot it into gear. Don't do it with your own car but I always drive curtesy cars without using the clutch. It's amazing how quickly you get it bang on every time. It's very rewarding and easier to do when you are pushing on a bit.
Barnard explained himself in many interviews that his main reason was to not have the gear linkage interfere with the aerodynamics he wanted underneath the car.
RE; heel and toe - NASCAR was amazed at SVG’s footwork earlier this year too
somehow robert moreno found his involvement in here too
I have to think drivers ultimately also appreciate that, when heavy braking from 200kph to 60kph and downshifting three gears while negotiating a hairpin, they can now keep both hands on the wheel while they do it lol.
Somewhere in New Jersey a social worker just got super excited and doesn’t know why.
NJ resident here .... eh???
@@djbadlt you a social worker?
@@Hesitatedeye nah, just a resident .... I'm just confused lol
U wot
@@djbadlt a mutual friend of mine and aidans is from NJ and has a unhealthy obsession with the 640.
Do a series on every driver's DQ'S
Notice you have a Boston bruins hat on,big fan of the Bruins here in Boston Massachusetts,also big fan of the channel
Grew up near Boston England. 😅
@@AidanMillward Funny you grew up near Boston in England and I grew up here in Boston in New England
My favorite time of day. Coffee ☕ with Aidan.
The best reason for going back to an H pattern shift is that it would place a premium on driver skill and mechanical sympathy. The ability to change gear used to be one of the things that separated the wheat from the chaff.
Why stop there? Let's go back to the cigar-style cars. No aero, no safety. If you die, you die.
Oh, and bring back refueling and V12s.
The best reason for going back to manually-adjusted valve timing and having just one big lever to brake is that it would place a premium on driver skill and mechanical sympathy. The ability to crank-start your own car used to be one of the things that separated the wheat from the chaff.
@@n8pls543 Personally, I mourn the loss of skill when they stopped the chariots at the Constantinople Hippodrome. But also, as an OG who can heel/toe faster than a millennial can swipe left, it pains me some when I'm iRacing a stick shift car just like a real one, and I'm a second down to youngsters using flappy paddles.
@@simonolsen9995 I miss the days when we need to use our legs to run away from angry _Mammuthus primigenius_
There is this fun fact about John Barnard's move to Ferrari. Back at McLaren, people seemed to notice that John copied a lot of his stuffs into his folder. Then they found out that John is moving to Ferrari.
Steve Nichols said that when a conversation occurred on the upper floor, where John was stationed, it was just a mumble when heard from his office. This time round, when Ron Dennis entered John's room, Steve can hear every single words loud and clear.
I don't think Ron was particularly enthused with John moving to Ferrari.
ALSO FUN FACT: In older flappy-paddled cars like 430 Scuderia, Lexus LFA, Aston V12 Vantage S and e-gear-equipped Lamborghinis (Murcielago and Gallardo) plus Aventador, you do need to do heel-and-toe to downshift. And below, say, 4000rpm, do lift-off while doing upshifts. However, beyond 4000 or 5000rpm just keep your foot down the throttle for that maximum whipcrack upshifts. By doing all that, you will actually smooths out the gearchange during downshifts (and upshifts below 4k rpm) and help with clutch engagement and disengagement, meaning you can prolong your clutch wear, keeping it as minimum as possible. Also, it is a lot more involving that way. In the past I am in that dichotomy of either ultrasmooth double clutches or slick manuals. But nowadays I found these type of robotised manual having their own charms. Especially in the likes of 430 Scuderia and GranTurismo MC Stradale (same gearbox and software, by the way).
5:21 RIP in peace
Ferrari with innovation, there's something new!
And in the face of this, Toyota develops an electronic third pedal / gearshift lever for electric cars, complete with software that can simulate stalling. See the Ars Technica article from a few days ago.
Ferrari should have patented this and licensed it to companies and f1 teams
Nah im sure it was designed long b4 ferrari. Most engineer like that was, it was just the tech made it actually possible eventually
That's a fast track way of getting it banned. Renault tried that stunt with the mass dampers and lo and behold the other teams said fuck you.
Two videos in a day?😮
Ahhh the good ol’ flappy paddles 😂
I see a badass Marshall...Aidan knows!
🤟🏻🇬🇧🇺🇸
Roberto Moreno ushering in the future
I promise I’ll stop talking about him once we hit 100k
So John Barnard was the genius behind the flappy paddle gearbox.
Ferrari 639/640 for me the best looking F1 car in history
Not to be pedantic, but Jim Hall wrote about the Chaparral 2E and how they achieve what they did. It didn't have a semiautomatic gearbox. What it did have was a 2-speed, later 3-speed, dog box with a hydramatic torque converter in place of a clutch.
Yep. Anyone that watches Cleetus McFarland's youtube channel may be familiar with the concept thanks to McFlurry being a 5 speed Lynco transmission with a torque converter instead of a clutch.
❤ it
thank you Aiden
I really do wonder if someone other then Ferrari got it working in a F1 car would they work to get it banned like the brake pedal stuff
The Chaparral 2C didn't have an adjustable rear wing, that was the 2E
Actually many of the race cars on the 1940’s & 1950’s had preselector gearboxes, you would put the transmission in the gear then press the clutch & bingo proper gear!!!😊
They were somewhat rare which baffles me. It's what I would want in a 30s-early 50s grand prix car.
Brazil 89 was the first gp I ever watched and had already declared myself a Ferrari fan way before watching or knowing anything about the sport at all. When Mansell won I thought wasn’t I the clever one choosing the best team. Eh yeah it went a bit downhill after that. Then the Schumacher era arrived. My wait for glory was over. However I’m back to waiting again. I heard a rumour that next year will be our year and I can only assume that’s true. But I assume that every year. That being clever and picking the right team thing hasn’t really happened.
The main reason for the gearbox was largely aerodynamic, not the ease and quickness of changing gears. Indeed, the earlier versions of the gearbox were only marginally faster than their manual counterpart.
Another reason teams wanted to stick with them was cost. Fewer mis-shifts equals fewer damaged engines and gear boxes. Unfortunately, that also robbed drivers of a means of overtaking - pressuring a driver into making a mistake and missing a gear shift.
Ron Dennis also thought it was a big deal that cars could now be completely symmetrical. But I don't know how big a deal that really was...
Imagine being able to work in the Ferrari GTO office when the GTO is your favorite Ferrari
You can't tell me Barnard thought about that acronym before submitting the business application to the govt/name suggestion to Ferrari
Roberto Moreno strikes again.
The banning decision tended to come down to how well, and how possible it was for Ferrari to copy it.
Yes I went there.
I remember watching Nigel Mansell driving the Ferrari, after the first win it all seemed up hill, a winning car than failed most races, only getting reliable by the end of Prost first year. Mansell then left for Williams where he then had another hard time getting active everything to work. Wins the championship then Prost get the car, then Sener got the car. We all know that sad story.
Some time when Mansell was driving the Ferrari he got squeezed by Berger along the strait and got two wheels on the grass which dragged the other two on till the car spun 180, then another 180. Mansel accelerated to have another go at Berger.
5:20 LOL XD
Great video as always. Evidently during the F1-89/639/640’s development there was also a car Ferrari created with a V12 and conventional manual that Alboreto drove (he did not like the sequential, or rather did not trust it.) alongside Bernard’s. I’m unsure if it was the 639 or a modified F1/87/88C.