How do you operate an F1 transmission... REALLY!

Ok, stupid question of the month: How do you physically operate an F1 transmission?

Please excuse my ignorance, but I've never driven, nor been a passenger in an F1 trans f-car.
I'm really curious and it's not like I can just run down to the local dealer and find out for myself. Unfortunately the videos I've seen on the web don't demonstrate the operation of this trans very well (or I've missed the better ones).

Silly questions:
- how do you get it into neutral; can you coast?
- is there an option to make them fully auto (my wife would want to know this one)?
- when you pull up to a red light are you shifting down or does the vehicle automatically shift you back into 1st?
- you place it into reverse by flipping the little t-lever on the console, correct?


Thanks in advance.

 

BTW, I get the part of "left paddle shifts down, right paddle shifts up".

 

.....

 

Not stupid questions at all. I had to ask all the same questions when my friend let me drive his 360 Spider. I was worried that it would stall if I didn't downshift at the right time when I was coming to a stop.

 

Not F1 related, but I once saw a guy stall a Testerossa. Car jerked back and forth a bit. I felt sorry for that clutch. The only real stupid questions are those ones you don't ask.

 

The above answers are all right on. It’s incredibly easy and intuitive after your first minute or two behind the wheel. The “Auto” mode is perfect for a lady who (or whomever) isn’t prepared for a manual shift but wants a full-blown modern Ferrari experience.

To start the car, place right foot on the brake & pull both paddles to get neutral. There’s a very convenient and obvious display right in front of the driver showing which gear is currently engaged so you always know where you are. When it shows “N”, you’re in neutral. With foot still on the brake, pull right-hand paddle to shift into 1st (watch for the “1”), move foot from the brake to the gas, press down and off you go. When ready to shift, leave foot steady on the gas and pull whichever paddle for up or down shift.

That’s pretty much it. Of course there are some small techniques you can use to help preserve the clutch, make faster acceleration, hard up-shifts for racing, etc., but that’s all in the manual and pretty obvious anyway. Basically, I find it works incredibly smooth, slick and effortless. Some people still prefer to do it themselves with a manual 6-speed but I absolutely love my F1 and I find it quite remarkable how perfectly it’s been developed and executed by Ferrari.

 

My Ferrari is a manual, but my '08 Audi TT is their DSG 'S-Tronic'. It's a nice gearbox and fairly idiot-proof. You can stick it in 'D' for traffic and cell-phone time, or slip it into full F1 mode for real driving.

For convenience and performance, it's tremendous. I can see how someone who's not comfortable using a clutch would love this, because (at least in my Audi) you can't stall the car, and it will always take itself into neutral when you stop at a light.

 

i never knew that you had to hold both paddles to get the car into neutral i just thought you shifted down to get it into neutral

 

Say your coming out of a hairpin, your doing like 20mph, and you get hard on the throttle again, but your in second gear. So naturally you want to flip down into first to get the maximum acceleration. Can you downshift while flat out?



P.S. Too bad I can't find out for myself...

 

Yes but the car will probably go sideways up the street and, if not controlled, straight off the road. Disaster.

But a faster corner 4th gear down into 3rd flatout should be ok.

 

I remember the first time I went to test drive a Ferrari, the sales man told me that I have to let off the gas while I up-shift....
bought my Ferrari somewhere else.

 

About 10 years ago when the 355 first came on the seen with F1 gears, I was working in a paintshop painting, and preping cars, independant garage, but we carried out repairs and and paintwork for local ferrari dealer, at the age of 21 when I was able to be insured I used topick up and take the cars back to the dealer.

After driving various cars 348's 355's a 456 (which I nearly put into the central reservation on a wet day at 40mph, 3rd gear 1000 rpm, floored it coming out of bend, went sideways sh** myself, straightened car up into 4th and eased off throttle to straighten up, speedo reading 100 mph, but thats a differnt story) and a couple of 550's, then later on the 360's. Anyway 1 day I was asked to pick up a car, went to dealer drove back my first 355 F1 gear, salesman dident say anything just heres the keys ring us when its done.

Had to reverse the car out of workshop, found reverse no probs, out of reverse into 1st , away we go. After the 10 mile journey to work, I parked the car, and went to do another job, came back 1hr later and spent the next 2hrs trying to find out how to start car, as it was in gear and I had no idea how to select neutral, and didn't want to embaress myself by calling the dealer to ask.

But as mentioned it is a simple pull of both levers until N is on the display.

 

This is why they exist on street cars. The F1 (at least since the 355 and 575) is unquestionably better on the track, however, present enthusiast audience excepted, the reason why nearly all Ferraris are sold today with F1 is that most Americans essentially cannot drive a traditional manual car and never could. Plain and simple.

 

While it is true that most Americans can't drive a stick, that's not true of most Ferrari owners. Not many Fcar owners just bought one after their Honda or Toyota minivan - most are enthusiasts who came from other sports cars. I bet a VERY small percentage of F1 owners can't drive a stick. I still enjoy my old school 6-speed with a clutch pedal, but you can't beat watching Kimi win in Brasil then hopping in your own F1 and paddle shifting down some twisty roads.

 

I won't argue with you about Kimi, but I have a hunch that you might be surprised about the folks who have been buying new Ferraris in the last ten years. I have absolutely no data to back this up, it's just my gut's hunch. The fact that Porsches have been available with automatics for a long time, and they are common stepping stone to Ferrari ownership, makes it a bit easier to understand. If you're a successful person whose first "status" car was a BMW 15 years ago, who then moved through a couple of Porsches, and finally plopped for the F-car you could have avoided the stick shift that humiliated you when you took driver's ed the whole way (which actually did not include stick training when I took it).
I had a terrible time learning to use a stick because none of my friends' cars were manuals in high school (my mom has a horror of stick shifts and never permitted my dad to own one). In college a few buddies had stick shift cars, but they were convinced I'd destroy the clutch and or tranny in one afternoon learning on their car. I needed to know how to drive a stick because I knew I eventually wanted a Ferrari, and the F1 was just being rolled out in the 355. I'll admit that at that time I was excited when I discovered that a few Mondial-ts had been built with the Valeo clutchless tranny ( I assumed that a Mondial would be within my means before a 355).
Finally, I rented a rent-a-wreck (one of the few companies that had and would rent a manual transmission car to a 23 year old) Nissan Altima with 160K miles and a slightly slipping clutch. I spent 3 days driving that thing until I was comfortable. I then resolved my next car would be a manual, and it was. All of this was part of the long term Ferrari plan. After I became proficient I realized that all of the reasons many folks give for why they don't like manual cars were rather hollow if you were even moderately comfortable operating a clutch. I am not a brilliant driver now, and I certainly wasn't then.

Edit - BTW Jay, I just looked at your profile for the first time and your cars are splendid; you have commendably catholic tastes.

 

Thanks Hessian, my modest collection is 10 yrs in the making and I love each one! The STi is tough to drive now with all the mods - easy to stall with lightweight flywheel / clutch / pulleys, etc. But I agree, nothing beats a perfectly rev matched downshift. The way technology is advancing though I bet the clutch pedal will go the way of the hand crank to start the engine.

 

Are you able to and expected to blip the throttle when downshifting? Or is there no time to do that?

 

I haven't driven a Ferrari F1 yet but I have driven my wifes Maserati F1 and it is a total blast to drive. Keep it in Sport Mode and you will see a whole different drive.

 

The 360 was the first to do this, when in Sport Mode the engine management will blip the throttle automatically, to smoothen out the downshift.

 

What pray tell are you all talking about?

 

I can't imagine there's even time to blip the throttle - certainly not in the newer models with under 100 ms shift times.

 

Just so there is no confusion in this thread, I am not one of those Americans that can't drive stick. The car I've owned for the past 6 years is a 5 speed manual.

But I still do love the concept of the F1 gearbox. The 360 Spider was the first Ferrari that I have ever driven with a F1 gearbox and I wasn't too impressed with the speed of the up-shifts but I certainly did like the idea. The F1 was especially nice once we got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for several miles. I had it in "sport" mode the whole time... the owner told me to just let the car downshift it's self so that's what I did. The downshifts seemed pretty fast and smooth compared to the up-shifts. The owner also told me to just leave it in gear while I was at a stop but I've actually heard from others that doing that can wear out the clutch.

I can't wait until I get a chance to try out the F1 gearbox in a F430 or a 599.

 

Understood. I'd guess most everyone on this site is comfortable with a manual gearbox.

 

Again speaking from the Audi DSG (not the Ferrari F1) ownership, but the system blips the throttle for you on a downshift. It likely does more this more perfectly than anyone short of a professional F1 driver could. Given the speed of the shifts, you're right, there's no way a human could rev-match in that interval.

While a manual is still more fun, I am increasingly conscious of how slow my human-executed downshifts/rev-matching is with the gated shifter in my 328. You have to love it for what it is, but the truth is our shifting skills and these manual gearboxes are already an anachronism.

 

The original 355 F1 did not blip the throttle for downshift and only marginally released engine speed (via vacuum release, not throttle change) for upshift. The 360 utilizes an automated actuator for all throttle control and definitely blips up for downshifting and does a full blown double clutch when the resulting RPM will exceed 7000. It also releases the throttle automatically for a perfect double rev matched upshifting (i.e., both gear change and clutch release).

If you want a real thrill, throttle up to 6500 RPM in any gear and stomp it to the floor just before pulling the left paddle. The speed and precision of the double-clutch downshift is incredible although you don’t really have time to fully appreciate it as your head is slammed against the headrest. The acceleration is so violent that you can easily loose the car (except for that traction control thing) as suggested above by YellowF50.

The dual personality of the ’02 and later F1 software is quite amazing. Completely smooth, slick, consistent and effortless in normal driving – much more so than possible with manual shifting since we all occasionally fail to exactly match revs or let out the clutch at the perfect time. In “spirited” driving it’s even more remarkable for the speed and precision it displays, again much faster and more consistent than possible with a manual.

Highly recommended.