360 360 Challenge Manual swap first EVER ?

Not sure when you did it but the guys at ISSIMI Meccanica have done at least 3 to my knowledge.

 

Oh yeah. That's good. I Iike. Top marks!!

 

Modificata did one?

 

I love what you did.......thats just baddd a55555555

 

Cool! Do you track it often? What made you decide to convert it?

 

What conversion kit did you use?

 

amazing!!! and good choice on the kit! Wow I want one now

 

The only thing im sitting here thinking is "why?" I really dont get all these conversions.... When I think of manual cars I think of stuff like a Toyota Aygo, VW Polo's, and more of those small grocery getters, not of a race car experience...

Operating costs is ofcorse a given with less chances on failures with the F1 system

 

I can think of several reasons why.
First off it's his car to mod for HIS OWN pleasure
Second, as he stated, he now feels more connected to his car than when it was F1. Yes, it's slower around the track but who drives like that these days
Third, he's considering it less likely to have as many issues as when it was F1

This should not turn into a 3-pedal manual vs F1 discussion since the Op made mods for his own liking.
Mod away brother!

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Congratulations Bill on the successful conversion!

I guess we still need to confirm if it is the world's first converted Challenge, but it is certainly the world's first Challenge converted using Cambio Manuale LLC kit! (formerly Dr S)

BTW, just to clarify - this is the Challenge race car (not street legal initially, but some people have made it street legal), and NOT Challenge Stradale.

Several Challenge Stradale cars have also been converted using Cambio Manuale kits, and we also offer carbon fiber center consoles to replace the CS original console. Carbon fiber consoles are made by another company which developed it to install in their Cambio Manuale CS conversions - looks beautiful. Two other companies installing our kits into CS also worked on their consoles but I'm not sure if they sell it separately.

The Challenge conversion is actually easier than CS, as the Challenge console has the same shape as Modena/Spider!

 

... but you see that from Europe, where manual transmissions are not considered exotic (as they have continuously been fitted to the cheapest cars for decades).
In the US, mainstream cars have all had (terrible) automatic systems since the 50s, so the manual transmission gets some worshiping - also because most people simply do not know how to drive a manual there (whereas in Europe every driving grand-ma has probably not driven anything else), which adds some self-reward to people driving a manual car.
So that's a very different starting point, as far as the POV is concerned, between Europe and the US.
This being said, owners can (and should) do whatever they want with their cars, and the reliability advantage is certainly a valid point.

 

True, at Viva Italia last sunday there were 2 manual F430's (original from factory) and several manual 360's no1 batted an eye at them. For us a manual is just nothing special as 9/10 cars are manual here XD And this wasnt meant as a manual vs F1 nudge, im just trying to understand why someone would want to do this (other than potential costs on the F1 system)...

 

Think they did CS cars

 

To the OP, what an awesome car! That must be super fun on track.

I think comparing a good feeling manual trans to a grocery getter isn’t really a fair comparison. A dog of a manual connected to a 1.3L and zero feel clutch with almost no torque feels like trash to drive. I can say this as I learned on a Toyota Tercel. If that was the only manual experience offered, I too, would want an alternative. A good sports car is a different feeling animal imo.

 

@Bill, I've done a couple. However its important to note the torque shift points are different on the 360 Challenge paddleshift calibrated TCU vs the Modena so if its not been done by someone who REALLY knows their stuff on this platform, and not just converted it to gated then the car will never shift as its supposed to and the clutch wear will be terrible...

 

That's what I like about Europe. Europeans know how to drive stick. When I rented a car in Zurich to drive.. they gave me a Hyundai. Next time it will be a 911.
Nonetheless, only 20 to 30% of TOTAL production are manual transmission. If it were so popular in Europe I'd expect a higher number of total production being stick. It appears alot of Europeans liked the idea of being Schumaker pulling on a paddle shifter.

 

Thought I read the weight savings was pretty small like 10 lbs or less?

 

Badass. Super cool! Enjoy!