F1 Trans---Do's and Dont's

did you buy it yet???

 

I would be interested to know as well. My father just got a 355 f-1 spider a couple weeks ago....**Guru's Chime In**

 

When I was at the 599 unveiling at Pebble Beach this month, I asked Ferrari's American CEO that question.

He said that first of all, the F1 transmission was NOT a real automatic because automatic trannies have torque converters, but the F1 series of trannies do not.

Then he said that driving behavior for the F1 should mimic a manual transmission if you want to get maximum clutch life, rather than be driven as automatics as many F1 drivers do.

So for shifting, do in the F1 what and when the things that you do in the same circumstances with a stick shift. If you coast to a stop in Neutral with your manual tranny, then do that in your F1 to get similar life out of your F1 clutch.

He said that treating the F1 as a true automatic was why so many F1 owners see so much clutch wear from doing things such as going in Reverse up an incline...going slowly up an incline means that the F1 is slipping the clutch to prevent the engine from stalling, which in turns shorters clutch life.

In a stick shift, you are pretty well forced to go fast up an incline in reverse...if you go slow, then you have to slip your clutch, and then you are burning up your manual clutch!

The difference is that the F1 sort of hides that clutch burn, whereas we really "know" it when we drive our sticks (mostly from past experience and foot feel).

Of course, the F1 has to build up hydraulic pressure before shifting into Neutral to Start, so 355 F1 owners are going to see a slight delay prior to being able to start their cars if they park their F1's in gear.

 

All true except fast or slow going in reverse up a hill is brutal because in reverse the clutch is designed to never stop slipping. The car cannot be made to reverse up a very steep slope.

People thinking they should drive them like an automatic is the direct fault of the sales force and their lack of education of the cars. They were telling owners that the system was basically an automatic so owners responded to the input.

 

Not required in the F1, but to get similar clutch life from an F1 compared to a stick, drive the F1 similarly in all aspects.

 

To be honest, that was my understanding as well. I was just repeating what I was told this month from a person in a position to know.

I have ZERO personal experience in this subject, by the way (full disclosure).

 

Just out of curiosity what was the rationale behind that advice? Were you told?

The 355F1 system (and the 360 for that matter) holds the clutch in the collapsed position (Like having the pedal down) at ALL times when the motor is running ad the car is stationary. It make no difference if it is in gear or N.
The clutch is not dragging so wear is not an issue.

 

He is a good guy but he is an administrator. He is in no better position to know than you.

 

No, the system cuts the throttle for you when shifting is carried out.

 

As a safety measure.

During the course of investigating a malfunction that Ferrari was worried about because of some safety implications I discovered that the throwout bearing keeps the clutch compressed all the time (unless moving). I queried FNA about it and they were completely unaware it worked that way. Hence the advice. Started as a wives tale and quite a few have still have not gotten the word.

 

I have a 355 GTS F1 and I try to use it in the same way as a manual and it seems to work fine. The trick is to get used to it and driving it in different situations. You need to get it in to your brain how to react to different driving situations.
It took me at least two month to get hang of the basics and I am still learning. Dont get me wrong, it is not hard to use, but if you want to get that great flow in your driving it takes a little getting used to.

If you take your time it will grow on you and you will finally start to understand what it is all about. I was skeptic in the beginning, but would never go back to the old way of shifting today ;-) The only tricky thing is to reverse, but who needs to backwards?

 

Leave it in sport mode.. regular mode shifts slowly and sloppily and feels like it slips it every time you shift. You don't have to lift on upshifts, but I've found that it shifts a lot more smoothly if you lift just a little bit when you're shifting at redline. The 355 won't rev match on downshifts, so you have to give it a quick blip yourself. Heed everyone's advice about going slowly uphill... I changed my clutch out at 27k miles and it still had life in it. The current clutch has only been in for about 4k miles and I got stuck in a situation where I had to creep up a steep incline and it burned it right up. Definitely knocked a few years off its life. Don't ever use the automatic mode. Rifledriver is right about leaving it in 1st at a standstill. You can feel the clutch disengage, and it will roll backwards if you're on a hill, so it quickly becomes obvious that if you're stationary, 1st = neutral. No point in shifting to N. The system is incredibly intuitive and easy to learn, but does take a little bit of time to figure out the nuances.

-R

 

Here's my advice........

Stop concerning yourself - find a great car - you will answer these questions for yourself after driving about an hour.

Good Luck

 

Yup, it'll slam through the gears if you shift at high rpms. If you let off just a tad, it'll shift a lot more smoothly though. Another must-do for the F1 system, RTFM! The owner's manual actually has the answers to 90% of the questions I see on fchat regarding the F1 system. When you get yours, read that thing cover to cover.

-R

 

Robin, stop telling him all the info. At least keep the secret hankshake until he is a member of the club.............

 

So even when in Neutral the clutch remains open? I would have said that flicking to Neutral when stationary would reduce throwout bearing and hydraulic wear, but maybe not if it only engages the clutch to move...weird

Also, how does the 355 "back off the throttle automatically" for shifts? I know it uses the idle speed control valve to attempt a blip but with a manual throttle (unlike the 360etc) the ECU cant close the throttle valve. So does it cut the ignition?

I have driven a 360 F1 and covered 50,000 miles in Alfa Selespeeds (feels identical to 360) and in both, a slight - well timed lift off the gas during up-shifts made the process MUCH smoother (felt faster too, but maybe just a feeling rather than fact). All semi-auto systems I have driven benefited from a slight lift (but it takes practice to get it right), not had chance to try a 355 though.

Also (with the Alfa's) - in auto mode you could upshift by lifting off the throttle slightly which made things much smoother otherwise you had to predict when the auto shift was coming to help with a throttle lift etc. Is this the same in the 355? (felt same in 360F1).

 

In modern cars ignition shutoff is never used for anything. That is to prevent unburned fuel from going to a hot cat not to mention the possibility of a back fire that could damage the exhaust system. Fuel shutoff is always used whether it is for the shifting of the F1, traction control, or a rev limiter. It is even that way on the F1 cars.

In more advanced engine management systems like the ME7.3 in the 360 or the ME7.1.1 in the 575 the "E" designates that the system has electronic throttles. That provides among other advantages that the engine management system has the ability to modulate the throttle rather than just shut the system off. That allows for smoother shifts as well as much better traction control modulation. The car will no longer just fall on its face during traction control intervention. It will roll the throttle back until traction is regained and continue to advance the throttle as traction allows it.

 

Does that include anti-lag systems in Turbo WRC cars?