Which do you prefer: F1 or Manual 'box?

I have been fortunate enough to drive a manual 348 and 355 and an F1 360. I have to say I much preferred the manuals even though the F1 was fun, I found that no matter how smoothly I tried to pull away the car always jerked forward before moving off. I don't know whether this is a common trait of F1 'boxes or just the car I was driving.

Anyway, which do you prefer?

 

6 speed

 

Manual any day

 

part of me wanted the novelty of the f1 the other part wanted the pure experience, went F1 in the end and half regret it. Never drove a 360 in anything other than f1 but have driven a 355 and 550 albeit very breifly.

I still like the f1 and every drive out increases my enjoyment of it but it can be a annoying sometimes, great when you're feeling lazy though...

>I found that no matter how smoothly I tried to pull away the car
>always jerked forward before moving off.
>I don't know whether this is a common trait of F1 'boxes or just
>the car I was driving.
Sounds familiar but you get smoother over time... Worse when cold.

 

Ive driven both Manual and F1 360,s and while the F1 on the 360 was great fun , I would prob get bored very quickly. I went manual as I love the drive, but on a track day I imagine the F1 is hard beat.

Just my 2pence worth


Joe

 

Manual all day long !

James

 

I have a 355 F1, my advice to any one who wants it would be to stay well clear of the F1 system. It really has spoiled my dream from school days of owning a Ferrari.
Regards

Stewart

 

What's the problem with it Stewart?

I guess "it's just another thing to go wrong" in some cases? Hasn't it been improved on the 360 or something?

 

I've had a fair bit of experience with the F1 and manual on both cars.

The early F1 boxes on the 355 and 360's were rough and overheated all the time, but this is pretty much sorted out by the second year of production of the 360.

From my experience there were two main problems.

One was that in early models the gear box and clutch were not as robust as they should of been. A lot of the problem can be sorted out by getting the garage to uprate the ECU. This doesn't solve all the problems but goes a long way to help.

Second (and this is not meant as a critisism of any member of this board)
is drivers not abapting thier driving style to suit the new technology.
You have to drive the F1 box very differently.
I wrote a long piece some time ago about driving the F1 box. I can't find it now but if you're interested i'm sure you could search for it.
But the essence of was BE MORE AGGRESIVE and positive with the changes the car will respond in kind and the changes will be smoother.
ALWAYS select neutral when stationary even if stopping for only a few seconds. The car does not like to sit still in gear.

Stewart,
I'm sorry to here the F1 box has spoilt your dream.
But i'm sure all is not lost.
I'm sure me and the othe boys on this site can help bring back that dream for you.
If you bring the car along to one of the meetings i'm sure we could sort you out.

If not there's always therepy.

Good Luck

Wazza

 

MackemX,

Jerky starts are a common trait.

As per my post above.
Put your foot down.
Let the car know what your trying to do.
I promise it will stop jumpping like some bloody kangaroo on steriods.

Wazza

 

Point well made Warren,

I have not really had enuff experience to comment, and I imagine the answer is to drive the car the WAY that Ferrari Intended.

We are prob responsible for "poodling along and around the local village" but these F1 fitted cars require a different driving approch.

As I said track days must be ace...


A mere Manual driver

ps I luv the bleep of the throttle on the F1 when changing down shift... thats nice!!!

 

I'm not sure how many people know how to blip the throttle/double de clutchwith an F1 box.
The trick is to push the gas paddle down quite hard BEFORE attempting to select higher ratio.
For example if your travelling behind someone in fourth gear and want to overtake.
STAY IN FOURTH leave a reasonable gap excellerate stay in fourth
then flick into third while continueing to push down on the throttle.
DON' T LIFT.

I hope this helps.
If not i'll get me coat!!!!!.

Wazza

 

FWIW:

When changing up gears on the 360 F1 I drove it was better to treat it like a manual and lift off the gas before changing up. If I changed up with the throttle down the car seemed to drop off before changing up. I remembered that I had read this in a review.

I only had the car for a few hours and I was a bit nervous driving along busy roads so I didn't want to experiment too much!

Incredible car though...

 

Sorry But that's completely wrong.


If you lift off you're telling the car's computer to prepare to slow down.
In which case the computer will not bother to try and match the clutch and engine speed.

If you had aready been driving carefully/causiously the cars computer would have already sensed that and prepares the changes much slower for you.

If you are aggresive with the car it will sense that there is someone in the car who wants to play and will responded in like.

Hence quicker response time for any input it recieves.

I know this all sounds a bit farcical but the cars computer is not being a smart arse it's just reacting to all the imputs and making a judgement of your driving style and tries matching them to a bunch of preprogramed defintions it has stored in it's memory.

So the result being if you drive like a nancy boy the car will respond like a right tart !!!!!!!.

If you behave like a Schumacher the car will respond like a Formula One car at Spa.(well almost).

The 360 F1's owner manual will also tell you not to lift. although it doesn't go into any great detail.

Wazza

 

Wazza

Correct me if im wrong here, one of the major benefits of F1 gears is speed and ability to change very quickly.

I never took foot off the gas to change and the acceleration was smooth and extreamly responsive....You dont get that longish delay as with Manual change.

However im practicing on my fast manual changes for future track events.

Wazza,

I think the gear change lights on the Enzo would be cool on the CS steering wheel????

Ill wait for the changeable manual F1 version to become available...now that would be cool..

Joe

 

Oops

 

My car too has an adaptive gearbox system, with an ECU containing millions of different shift strategies, and the aggression of the change instantly adapted to your driving mood at that moment. Changes are effected by bio-mechanical pumps. It is a very reliable system, but admittedly not entirely foolproof.

It's called a six-speed manual!

 

Manual "Hand-Job"

Wolfarossa
FORZA FERRARI

 

This must be an F1 box is it?

http://www.btinternet.com/~metcalfer2/vids/3552.mpg

Sounds strange the way the revs seem to go higher than necessary on the upchange.

 

Either that or the driver never lifts foot off clutch when he changes gear!

 

Sounds like a manual and he's double de-clutching. Hence the rev between each change.

 

I agree with Kevin,
That's got to be a manual.
Though just why he need that, I don't know ?!?!?!.

Wazza

 

I agree, it sounds like a double de-clutch, but why would you double declutch when upshifting? I usually do it when downshifting ('cos it feels nice and sounds horny), but when upshifting surely you would not want to ADD revs to your engine. Maybe you'd double-declutch upwards if you had a burning urge to protect your synchromesh, but surely you wouldn't want to blip the throttle? But you blip the throttle on the way down to match the engine and gearbox speeds?

Perhaps there is a techno-spod-mechanical-type-dude that can answer this, 'cos I suppose I'm surfing on the very edge of my knowledge envelope.

Stig

 

Same on this one too...

http://www.btinternet.com/~metcalfer2/vids/F365_1.mpg

But not on this one.

http://www.btinternet.com/~metcalfer2/vids/355start.mpg

I find the use of indicator a little amusing on the second one. It's also interesting to note you can still hear it long after you can see it....

 

Mechanical or electronic sequential shift please,
Dale.