F1 and Champ car shifting

[f1dreamr575]

Can anyone tell me if the drivers in Champ car and the older F1 cars ( 90's) with the stick shift had to heel toe shift or did they just have the stick to change gears and no clutch pedal?

[bmagni]

if im not wrong as the new cars have a clutch paddle on the steering wheel, the gear shifts have some kind of lever to use the clutch...

[zondaland]

From my understaning in Champ cars the gear selection is purely sequential. So all that the drivers have to do is pull the gearstick towards them or push it away from them. I don't believe that they are required to use the clutch at all in the process. I think the reason for the set up that they use is that it forces drivers to take a hand off the steering wheel to change gears, so it is harder to do mid corner.

[bmagni]

im not saying they have to use the lever for the clutch to gear change, as in f1 they use the clutch mostly for exiting the pits...

[f1dreamr575]

What about the F1 cars from the early 90's and 80's?

[SPEEDCORE]

Pictures speak more than words

http://ryuuji.blog.ocn.ne.jp/photos/...2_cockpit.html

[ryanro24]

Champ Cars are sequential. zondaland hit it right on the head. The cars do have a clutch, but mainly for the purpose of pit stops. When the driver pulls the shift lever, the engine temporarily shuts off, switches gears, and refires all within a few miliseconds. I've been watching Open Wheel racing since I was little. :fist:

[sameerrao]

OK I am basing my opinion on dim memories of articles read long back but as far as I know, there was a gearshift and a clutch in use till Ferrari came up with a sequential clutchless shift and it took a season or so before the remaining teams went for it as well. Williams were late adopters as can be seen in the link posted by SPEEDCORE.

I cant remember whether it was 91 or 90 when Ferrari started up with a paddleshift. You might remember an old Top gear test where Tiff took out Alain Prost's Ferrari and he was talking thru the paddleshifting process.

The clutch pedal remained for a couple years more and was primarily used for standing starts. Eventually the clutch migrated to the steering wheel. This was due to the needs of the engineering team who wanted to narrow up the pedal box area for aero efficiency.

So 80s were the true period when all the cars had a proper gearbox (H gate) and clutch. But even then if you were really good at shifting (Michele Alboreto was considered supreme in this aspect), you didnt need to use the clutch on any of the upshifts and most of the downshifts if you timed the revs correctly. 8)