Where to read up on F1 paddle shift?

Ross- Go to this url and download owners manuals or workshop manuals for the 355/360 and read up on it. Guaranteed to cure insomnia. Combine that with looking at the parts catalogs at Ricambi's site and you should get a pretty good idea of how they work.

http://www.ferraridatabase.com/The_Downloads/Downloads.htm

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Ross,

Just FYI, it is fairly intuitive once you drive one a few times.

At first, it seems real jerky and clunky. This is due to trying to over-anticipate the upshifts and downshifts, messing with the gas pedal, etc.

You soon learn to keep your foot on the gas during an upshift.

Also, I would manually downshift down to 2nd but never into 1st.
I let the car shift itself into 1st when I came to a complete stop, like at a red light.

On the 355, 360, and 430, most of us parked the car by pulling both pedals (putting into neutral "N") and then manually setting the handbrake.

But on a 458, there is no handbrake control. So, in a 458 you park in 1st, shut down the engine, and that is what tells the computer to set the automated handbrake. If you put it in N before shutting off, it assumes you want it in "car wash" mode and want the car to roll freely - no parking brake set.

Anyway, after just 2 or 3 drives in an F1 car, your shifting will be smooth and powerful. You quickly forget thinking about it, and just like a stick-shift, it just becomes automatic as you drive the car.

 

Also, at the site Terry gave you, there is an operations manual just for the 360 transmission, which is an excellent reference. In fact, if you read through all of it, and educate yourself to all that's in it, every Ferrari service manager and tech will hate you --- because, not only will you be the most informed customer they've ever dealt with, in many cases you will be more knowledgeable than they are.

 

All the cars are designed to be parked in gear. It is why they put in an alarm buzzer if the key is turned to off with car in neutral.

To trust a parking brake is folly.

 

Thats a load.


Our worst nightmares were when customers remained ignorant of them.

Are you really that much of an *******?

 

Ron- As we have discussed earlier, you and I drive them completely differently. I never let the car auto downshift to a lower gear. I either put it in neutral when coming to a stop, or manually downshift if I want a lower gear. I manually downshift into 1st every time I pull into my garage and any time I want 1st gear. When you let the car auto downshift into 1st, it is doing so because the engine's speed is too low for 2nd, and that does not feel right to me. There are triple synchronizers for the lowest gears, and they do a pretty good job, especially with the synthetic gear lubes we are using.

When driving gently in Normal or when the engine/transmission is cold, I let up on the throttle whenever I upshift. Longer in lower gears and cold and less in higher gears when warm, where I just breathe the throttle. And yes, I know the throttle automatically cuts back and what the OM says. If everything is warm, and I am using Sport, I keep the throttle down.

Like Brian says, I always shut down in 1st gear, which is way lower (higher numerically) a gear than reverse. I never trust a handbrake and it is a supplemental device for me when parked. And yes, my handbrake is well adjusted.

I always start in neutral, like the OM says. I know the system will select neutral before starting, but why make it do that?

F1 transmissions are manual transmissions with an electro-hydraulic shift mechanism. If you drive them pretty much like you do a manual transmission, they work fine. For those who always downshifted all the way down to 1st with their manual transmissions, you can do that too with F1. Not the way I drive, but still fits into the category of driving it like you would a manual transmission.

One important thing Brian taught me is the F1 clutch is always open when the car is stopped. So when at a stoplight with the car in neutral, the clutch is open, unlike a manual transmission when in neutral with your foot off the clutch pedal. With the constant contact throw-out bearing, however, the T/O bearing is always touching, so it does not make much difference. Ferrari still recommends being in neutral when stopped, however, and the cars will automatically select neutral for you if you sit too long in gear while stopped.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

Interesting. Thanks for the insights.

 

Aside from the fact that I was being sarcastic (sorry, but I don't know of an 'emoticon' for that expression), your question still seems paradoxical...

 

What is it with you two?

 

I have absolutely no idea...

I don't mind being called an a****** if I've done something to deserve it, but I'm not exactly sure what "imaginary line" my joke crossed.

 

Confused by this thread. Regardless of E brake used or not used it seems to me that the shutting off the engine in F1 trans is 100% mechanical without a fluid coupling between engine/trans/wheels providing a safe means to keep the car parked? Is this an accepted procedure?

 

Affirmative, the factory intended and the owners manuals say to shut her down in 1st gear. If you shut down in neutral, she will beep at you to say "Hey Dummy, I am not in gear."

The leave it in neutral advice is usually given by dealers whose clients cannot be trained to select neutral before starting. If you start in 1st gear, the system should select neutral for you automatically. If, however, the battery is low, F1 cars have been known to lurch forward when started in 1st gear. Not good for the nose.

So what Ferrari intended, was shut down in 1st, start in neutral, at least in the early F1 Ferraris.

 

A 355 F1 cannot be started in 1st gear - N must be selected first. I leave mine in N in the garage or very level surface but most often on the street or parking lot I leave in 1st.

 

Dave- Later F1 cars (360s, 575s) definitely can be started in 1st, but the OMs recommend putting her in neutral first.

 

Park in neutral.

A dead battery one day in a tough parking spot will show you why.

 

That's a good point. But, not advisable if on an incline.

 

Yup..

 

Nope, not me. Always in gear. Has worked fine for me over nine years.

 

Right. Given the often poorly adjusted parking brakes, it's a recipe for disaster to not park in gear (on an incline)

 

I saw pictures of a local FCA member here in Seattle that left his 430 in neutral with the hand brake on. While he was in the house, it rolled down the hill and ended up in a ditch. Only minor damage, more embarrassment than anything...but lesson learned. Park in gear, handbrake on.

Neutral is fine in the Midwest I guess...

 

I park in neutral unless it is unsafe to do so. Used to park in gear.

 

I'm aware of a similar incident......360 parked up with hot brakes in neutral. Discs cool, car rolls backwards into somebody else's.....Leave in gear unless it is dead flat