360 Best Driving Practices for a Ferrari 360 F1 Gearbox?

Hey everyone,

I’m still getting familiar with my Ferrari 360 Spider, and I wanted to ask for some advice on the best driving habits for the F1 gearbox. I’ve driven manual cars before, so I understand how a traditional clutch works, but I’m curious if there are any specific techniques for making the most out of the F1 transmission, especially when it comes to preserving the clutch and optimizing the shifts.

For example, when accelerating, is it better to stay in auto mode and let the car handle the shifts, or should I be using the paddles most of the time? I’d also love to know what people recommend for city driving—do you handle it differently compared to spirited drives? And lastly, when accelerating hard, should I be easing off the throttle during shifts to make it smoother, or is it better to just keep my foot down and let the gearbox handle everything?

I’d really appreciate any tips or insights from those with experience driving these cars. I want to ensure I’m driving it the right way and making the most of the F1 system while being kind to the clutch.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Thanks!

 

Avoid reverse uphill is #1. User manual says to not lift the foot during shifts and acceleration.

 

Take off as if you were using a clutch pedal, don't lift as you upshift, dont use auto mode, and keep it in sport mode, no issues

 

Sometimes when setting off uphill, it's better to give it more gas and spin up the rears a bit rather than letting the clutch slip and do the work! Don't let off when changing gear.

 

Thank you, that's all very helpful actually. Another thing is when driving around normally is it just better to keep it in auto? I find when I use the paddles and I am coming to a stop and I keep downshifting till first gear it's a little abrupt.

 

^^^ this absolutely...
The only thing I would add is under normal acceleration I found that a very slight, and I mean slight, lift off of the pedal will give what feels like less slippage into the next gear. But with said, when driving the car spiritedly (as Allan said) never lift off of the pedal-- and enjoy the experience of hard snapping shifts. Remember, Enzo was proud to build race cars for the street.

 

I suggest you never use the Auto button (relatively too much clutch slippage) I put my F1 in Sport mode when I bought it 7 years ago and I haven't touch that setting since then. When I'm coming to a stop for the most part I simply pull back on both paddles and put the trans in neutral, coast to the light, or wherever I'm at that I know I will probably need to come to a full stop. When you can start rolling again, simply put the car in 1st and take off. Also I know in my years of driving 911s (stick cars-- and it's important to remember that the F1 trans is the same as the 6 speed Ferrari trans-- only completely automated in its controls) that the first gear cluster was massive and it was not recommended by Porsche Gurus that one downshift into 1st gear unless at full stop or nearly full stop. So I have observed the same behavior in my F1 360.

Drive your F1 correctly and it should last for over 30K miles, for some guys here, they have attested to even longer.

 

Totally agree! Snap!

 

Came here just to say forget the auto setting. Not sure how it is on the 360, but on the 430 it's absolutely horrible. It adds nothing to the experience and I feel was only put there for valet parking or when non-car people bought it as a statement car instead of a driver. In 08+ it's even worse as that's the default setting and you have to manually turn it off every single time.

Otherwise, like everyone else already said. Just drive it as you would a manual. You can feel the shift point and the slipping if you've been a manual driver in the past. Just let the car engage quickly and reduce slip and you won't have any issues.

 

Wow I did not know that about the Auto button feature in the 430-- what PIA that must be.

 

This is all very sound advice, thank you all. I'll take notes of the above and make sure to apply it in my daily driving of the 360. I am guessing that slipping/delay is relatively normal in Auto mode then.

Thanks all

 

Hey everyone,

I wanted to ask a question I’ve had about accelerating from a stop in the 360. I recently had some fun with it, but I was under the impression that the rev limit was 8.5k RPM. However, like others have mentioned in other posts on here, when I let it go before manually shifting, it went all the way up to 9.2k RPM.

So here’s my question: when accelerating from a stop, should I be going full throttle in first gear? Is it safe to rev the engine all the way to 8.5k RPM in first? I’ve seen mixed opinions on this, and while I know the car is built for this kind of driving, I just want to make sure I’m not pushing things too far while still enjoying it to the fullest.

Would love to hear your thoughts or advice from those with more experience!

Thanks!

 

When pulling into the parking spot at the local grocery it is imperative to end the parking spot entry at 9200 RPM.

 

I regularly take my car upto 8500 in first and flat shift, and keep my foot down all the way and keep shifting up, can't beat the sound of the CS exhaust on a 360 @8500rpm

 

Lol

 

What you're seeing on the rev counter in first gear is probably the gauge reacting slower than the engine is, I dont think the limiter is that high. Over 7000rpm in Sport gives you access to the fastest gear change, so I normally shift around 7500rpm on the road if driving fast (its nice to know there's another 1000 rpm in there if necessary)

Warm up time is also worth pointing out - dont start driving fast until you can at least see some movement on the oil temp gauge. I am extremely gentle, especially in 1st and 2nd gear until you are definitely sure the clutch has engaged. I change gear at 2000rpm accelerating literally as gently as I can until the car is warmed up a bit.

The car downshifts automatically, so you dont need to do that. And definitely dont shift down to first - the car will stay in 2nd gear and engage the clutch and then 1st gear automatically as you come to a stop - although it isnt necessarily particularly smooth, so engaging neutral and coasting to a stop is also valid.

Also, double-clicking either of the paddles will result in changing 2 gears, it doesnt say this anywhere in the manual but it does definitely work

Edit - as others have said, dont use Auto its useless, and dont let off the throttle when shifting.

 

Because it's an automated manual you can't just ignore throttle control through gear changes like you can on a full auto. Anticipate the next gear (by blipping for a downshift or lifting slightly for an upshift, just as you would in a manual) and life will be a lot smoother at normal driving speeds. The later 430s don’t really need this but the 360s do and I’ve owned both. If you’re flat to the floor in sport mode you don’t need to lift.

Be sympathetic to the clutch in heavy traffic. It takes a second or two to engage at normal driving speeds so try and avoid creeping along in traffic on the clutch.

Ive found the absolute worst for these cars is stop start traffic on a hill. My trick is hold it on the footbrake (the e brake is too weak) and gently give it some throttle while syncing the clutch engagement with a gradual release of the footbrake. If you try to hold it on the clutch alone on a hill or creep forward like an auto you'll soon enjoy the smell of burning money (clutch).

Auto mode is horrible in every F1 I’ve tried. One thing I like about the F1 is the auto downshifts when you’re slowing to a stop and you don’t need to be in auto for that.

 

I don’t know about 9200 rpm but I do remember hitting the limiter around 8.6k rpm in my old 360 spider, miss that car:

 

Ok so I had some time with the car and I must say it was a blast. I wanted to see how well I can accelerate from a stop. Initially going full throttle in first gear did not work out. In fact I tried this twice and the car failed to shift completely and just kept bouncing off the rev limiter at 8k rpm I tried that twice with no success. Video below:



Now with some practice I decided to ease into it and see if I can shift consistently at 8k and that worked well. Video below:



Is there anyway I can get a better launch? If you see the last video I didn't go full throttle on first but it bogged at 4k rpm and dropped to 3k. This make take some finessing but, hoping to hear the best way to improve my take off from a dead stop.

 

Car sounds pretty healthy. For the first one maybe you got a bit of clutch slip that confused it.

 

Do you know why your engine management light is on?

I hope you've budgeted for a new clutch, because if you keep doing that you're going to need one fairly soon

 

Yes, I made another post about it has to do with bypass valve / cat

 

I would also suggest that if you have a shop (with a varified reputation) that has a Dyno, that you visit and put your car on it. It is a great way to determine your shift points.

Of the cars I've had I am usually surprised at where the power band is ( and ends-- where the engine is no longer making power) and it's not usually at the redline. My old Porsche 911 was a monster and seemed to pull past the redline (I had serious mods done and I removed the rev-limiter rotor) but I was wrong. The engine stopped making power before the redline. Once I started driving the car to the point of power and then shifting, it felt like it was a different car-- something the tech with the dyno had told me before we even started.

 

Thats pretty interesting, I will definitely look into that. I want to get the tune from @360trev but I can't get any response from him. Not sure if I am reaching out to him correctly or if anyone else here had better luck.

 

Another question came to mind when driving my car the other day. When I am stopped at a traffic light is it fine to stay in 1st gear and hold the brakes? Or will this similar to a manual wear out the clutch? Is it best to keep it in N