Last year for manual transmission in F1 cars

1991 was the last year that F1 cars were using predominantly manual gearboxes and passive suspension.

 

Here is an earlier thread on the subject.
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=139598800

 

Sad but true. I wonder how many millions of dollars F1 and F1 teams could save by reverting back to a traditional manual transmission and in essence reintroducing the driver to the car but I digress.

 

this would be awesome.

 

Actually, the paddle-shift boxes were touted as a cost saving device: no possibility to miss a shift and over-rev an engine, for one thing.

 

I realize that but with the advances in electronics now I'm almost certain the 'grenade effect' could be avoided. Heck the cost of one of todays steering wheels is certain equal to or more expensive than a manual tranny. I just think a certain element has been removed between the driver and the car and I have mentioned my concern on several different occasions.

I digress so back to the topic at hand.

 

I think that the last car with manual trasmission was the Forti in 1996.

The big money goes to aero and computer simulations. At this point, semi-auto gearboxes are cheap, even city cars use them now. Besides that, if we keep removing things from F1 cars that are standard in road cars, F1 will end being like NASCAR, the only place where you still could find carburetors in the 21th century.

 

I thought NASCAR was FI? Oh well.

 

The Jordan in 91 and the Benetton in 91 & 92 had manual boxes. The 93 Benetton I believe was the first with a paddle shift. Schumacher for sure raced an F1 car with a manual transmission

 

Right now, finally it is. 30 or 40 years late.

 

Bring back the H shift pattern gearbox!

 

+1

Need I say more......
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03VUI6jFknY&list=PL6E65A4650DBA9D32[/ame]

Aswell I say blah to all those who think the turbo 6's will sound bad:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE13zilzvXE&list=PL6E65A4650DBA9D32[/ame]

 

You could keep the F1 transmissions, just ban all the electronics on the steering wheel.

 

Why?

Seriously, how or why do you believe that will improve the racing? They're as close as they've ever been, we even see some overtaking and varied strategies occasionally.

If you want H-pattern 'boxes and *vintage* racing, go and watch historic F1's instead......

F1 *should* be high-tech IMO. They also have to contains costs some. I believe they've got the balance about right at present.

Cheers,
Ian

 

+1

While the wheel is indeed expensive the cost of a manual box is very little different to an F1 version. OK, the F1 system adds a TCU, but in the scheme of things that's a drop in the ocean given the benefits IMO. The cogs still need to be stirred, just that it's done by hydraulic actuators on the rods rather than manually. Many, many advantages to the former; Faster (now seamless) shifting, perfectly matched shifts and hence little wear and tear etc.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Wrong, I know for a fact the Jordan 191 that he had his first ever race in had a normal manual transmission.

This is a pretty poor angle to show it, but you can definitely see the shifter sticking out from the right side of the image.
http://ryuuji.blog.ocn.ne.jp/photos/cockpit_gallery_oldf1_/271451991_jordan191_cockpit_04med.html

 

IMO, that's just standing still. What you want is a drivers spec series. Just put every great driver in the same car and see what they can do.

Racing has always improved road cars. I see no reason to go back 30 years.

 

That's not true. He raced and won with manual transmissions in 1992. In fact I believe he captured the last win for a manual H pattern gearbox car at Spa '92.

 

Lets bring back the riding mechanic while we're at it.

F1 is supposed to be the cutting edge of race tech. Look forward not back.

 

I disagree with this entire post.

 

Fair enough.

Seems you don't want high-tech cars. Or close racing. Or recognize that costs need to be contained some. As the Viz noted, maybe they should return to carrying a riding mechanic?

How about taking a stab at answering the question? I wasn't being facetious when asking, just wanting to know how "banning electronics on the wheel" was going to make the racing better.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Reminds me of a line from a great Elaine May movie.
"Dedicated to preserving a way of life that was dead before he was born".

Happy New Year all.