26 replies to this topic

[Simon Bundi]

I've a question about 1970:
Did the drivers use the clutchpedal during driving? (and did they brake with the right food?)

[Ray Bell]

I'm sure you'll find it was yes to both questions, though some may have been left foot braking.

[Keir]

Yes, for the most part, it was clutch all in and all out.
No silly left foot braking in those days:smoking:

[Bernd]

No it wasn't possible to left foot brake in those cars there wasn't room to move your left foot across the foot well. The steering column was the problem most of the time. I remember reading something that Rindt said about not being able to move his feet in the 72 much at all the foot-well was that cramped because of the wedge shape. Chapman being mindful of drivers comfort as always

I found it quite interesting when I sat in a BT24 (67 car mind you) that it was impossible to get the feet across the footwell. The left foot was very much for the clutch only.

As for the clutch it was possible to drive without it but the shifts had to be nye perfectly synched or you would damage the motor if not blow it. So most of the time they used the clutch and shifted normally.

[Don Capps]

Only if you drove a Chaparral did you not bother with a "clutch" but Lord help you you stalled out on the circuit....after you messed up your left-footed braking....

[quintin cloud]

I've seen in some f1 books that the drivers would use there left foot for the clutch and right foot to control both the brake and throttle at the sametime when changing down gears which can be trickly with the limited space in a 1970's F1 car.

[Bernd]

Heal & Toe my friend a pivotal skill for the adept driver!

[David M. Kane]

You can shift a Hewland without using the clutch but it is very
hard on the components. They do not have synchos.

[bobdar]

Because they have no synchros, a dog ring-driven transmission must have the layshaft and the pinion shaft syncronized for the intended gear before the dogs will mesh, much like a motorcycle transmission. Keep in mind that the only way to syncronize the shafts is via the throttle; depressing the clutch merely disconnects the means of sycronizing the shafts. Left foot braking allows the right foot to accurately modulate the engine speed so that clutchless shifts are smooth. It is quicker, and does not stress the tranny if done correctly. I have left foot braked and clutchless-shifted with the same dog rings for over nine years, and they are still in use. People who haven't tried this technique usually claim the contrary.

[ghinzani]

Its certainly an art, the clutchless shift. I recall Roebuck commentating on Tarquinis beutiful technique in the Coloni back in 88. Shame those days are gone and its arcade style now.

[alansart]

You can shift a Hewland without using the clutch but it is very
hard on the components. They do not have synchos.

I've only done it twice, when I've had a seal failure in the master cylinder in the middle of races. It didn't take long to get back to speed but arriving at corners with the rears locking up was interesting for a while!

Taking it out of gear when coming back into the Paddock helps save face as well

[Tony Matthews]

McLaren M26 pedals, all three of 'em.

[Tim Murray]

The Lotus 76, when first introduced, had a four-pedal layout (plus an automatic clutch for changing gears) specifically to allow left-foot braking.

[jatwarks]

The Lotus 76, when first introduced, had a four-pedal layout (plus an automatic clutch for changing gears) specifically to allow left-foot braking.

And, further back to the winged era of 1968 the Lotuses had a fourth pedal to adjust the rear wing angle.

Jim.

[Prototype]

From memory the Lotus 76 had a 4 pedal layout; clutch - LF Brake - RF Brake - throttle. Once up and running the clutch was operated by a button on the gear lever.

Shows yet again how far advanced Chapman was, trying to get his drivers to left foot brake, but back then in 1974 both Peterson and Ickx were not convinced of the layout. The idea was to reduce weight transfer off throttle then braking, more like 'feeding in' the brakes during turn in. Chapman was (yet again) decades ahead of the game...

[Tony Matthews]

The Lotus 76, when first introduced, had a four-pedal layout (plus an automatic clutch for changing gears) specifically to allow left-foot braking.

I think it was in fact a three-pedal system, but the brake pedal was bifurcated, much like Sir Winston Churchill's famous salute, possibly with the steering column passing through the 'V'. I'm relying on an incomplete memory, as the photos are hidden.

How's young Bingo?

[MCS]

From memory the Lotus 76 had a 4 pedal layout; clutch - LF Brake - RF Brake - throttle. Once up and running the clutch was operated by a button on the gear lever.

Shows yet again how far advanced Chapman was, trying to get his drivers to left foot brake, but back then in 1974 both Peterson and Ickx were not convinced of the layout. The idea was to reduce weight transfer off throttle then braking, more like 'feeding in' the brakes during turn in. Chapman was (yet again) decades ahead of the game...

I'm pretty certain that Peterson and Ickx were provided with company Lotus Europas with the same pedal arrangement to help them get used to it.

[Peter Morley]

I think it was in fact a three-pedal system, but the brake pedal was bifurcated, much like Sir Winston Churchill's famous salute, possibly with the steering column passing through the 'V'. I'm relying on an incomplete memory, as the photos are hidden.

How's young Bingo?

Here's the brake pedal they used on the 76:

[f1steveuk]

Here's the brake pedal they used on the 76:

That doesn't look very, er, lightweight!

[Tony Matthews]

That doesn't look very, er, lightweight!

That picture is twice full-size! Looks as though it's been underwater since about 1975...

[PeterElleray]

McLaren M26 pedals, all three of 'em.

happy memories of when we didnt give a second thought to the poor sod who had to drive it needing to thread his one and only set of shin bones millimetres away from a thin walled magnesium casting carrying a solid 7/8" diameter alloy steel rack bar that was always going to come out best in the regretable event of accidental contact between the two....

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

I had an auxiliary, left-foot brake pedal whipped up by Ron Stott of Cherokee Industries in his Toronto shop in the late 70's for my Crossle 30. It was mounted on a long bar fitted to the standard pedal and was to the LEFT of the clutch in place of the foot rest. It was extremely robutst. The idea was to enable me to just lightly breeze the left brake into certain high-speed corners while still hard on the gas. Corner #8 at Mosport, for instance.

Got me into trouble at least once as I locked the brakes going into T1 at Road Atlanta and shunted the car in warmup. Swell.

I recall reading a magazine article in period about the Roger Penske, Sunoco Lola T70's of Mark Donohue and George Follmer as run in the Can Am. I clearly remember that it stated that one of them used the clutch for changeups but not changedowns and the other driver the reverse, not on changeups but always on changedowns.

Correct me if I'm wrong but with your typical Hewland gearbox employing dog clutches, is it not next-to-impossible to make a changeup without breathing the engine? I would think that with the continuous flow of torque, a 'mat-shift' would be impossible or at the very least, extremely difficult and prone to missed shifts.

[Peter Morley]

That doesn't look very, er, lightweight!

Not so heavy, it's fabricated steel from not very thick section (Chunky was still around then!), certainly lighter than the tubular steel pedals used on earlier cars like Lotus 22/23s (all I've got to compare it with).
Of course the 'mild surface corrosion' means it's lost some of its original weight!

I suspect it was 'carefully stored' in the open air in a Norfolk scrapyard for many years - the other parts that came with it are also beyond use (in fact some were unusable before they reached the scrapyard - if my understanding of the initials NFG on some of the wheels is correct!).

[dretceterini]

I'm still double clutching downshifts in everything I drive

[Tony Matthews]

I'm still double clutching downshifts in everything I drive

With both clutch pedals?

[Chezrome]

I had an auxiliary, left-foot brake pedal whipped up by Ron Stott of Cherokee Industries in his Toronto shop in the late 70's for my Crossle 30. It was mounted on a long bar fitted to the standard pedal and was to the LEFT of the clutch in place of the foot rest. It was extremely robutst. The idea was to enable me to just lightly breeze the left brake into certain high-speed corners while still hard on the gas. Corner #8 at Mosport, for instance.

Got me into trouble at least once as I locked the brakes going into T1 at Road Atlanta and shunted the car in warmup. Swell.

I recall reading a magazine article in period about the Roger Penske, Sunoco Lola T70's of Mark Donohue and George Follmer as run in the Can Am. I clearly remember that it stated that one of them used the clutch for changeups but not changedowns and the other driver the reverse, not on changeups but always on changedowns.

Correct me if I'm wrong but with your typical Hewland gearbox employing dog clutches, is it not next-to-impossible to make a changeup without breathing the engine? I would think that with the continuous flow of torque, a 'mat-shift' would be impossible or at the very least, extremely difficult and prone to missed shifts.

Perhaps I can shed some light on that. Donohue writes in The Unfair Advantage that he found the gearchange down of the Europeans 'weird'. If they changed from 5 to 2, they changed one gear at a time - to 4, to 3, to 2. He wrote something like: 'You only need to gearchange down one time; to the gear you need.' When I read that, I was puzzled for a while. Then I realised that with a manual gearselector you could still brake for a corner, wait for the revs to lower themselves, and then change from 5 to 2 at once...

Perhaps he combined that with not using the clutch?

[f1steveuk]

Perhaps I can shed some light on that. Donohue writes in The Unfair Advantage that he found the gearchange down of the Europeans 'weird'. If they changed from 5 to 2, they changed one gear at a time - to 4, to 3, to 2. He wrote something like: 'You only need to gearchange down one time; to the gear you need.' When I read that, I was puzzled for a while. Then I realised that with a manual gearselector you could still brake for a corner, wait for the revs to lower themselves, and then change from 5 to 2 at once...

Perhaps he combined that with not using the clutch?

Unless in a Ferrari, I believe that they had a gearbox "interlock" that prevented this, and I cannot remember where I read that, but I am fairly certain it was Chris Amon describing it.