13 replies to this topic

[Gold]

I know the 1991 Mclaren MP4/6 was the last F1 car with a foot clutch and H gated gear lever to win a championship.

 

I also know that the 1995 Forti FG-01 was the last F1 car with a foot clutch and H gated gear lever to enter an official GP.

 

Can someone verify if the 1994 Mclaren MP4/9 was the first F1 car to feature a hand operated clutch paddle and not a clutch pedal?

[danmills]

I thought this was a John Barnard creation experimented first at Ferrari testing late in 88 with Mansell after he worked at Mclaren? Wasn't used in racing for a few seasons iirc.

 

Sure it was on the latest beyond the grid podcast.

Edited by danmills, 28 April 2020 - 20:59.

[D-Type]

Alan Stacey who drove a Lotus in 1958-60 had an artificial leg.  Did he have any hand controls?  I vaguely remember mention of a supplementary hand-operated throttle or clutch to help him change gear.

[Ray Bell]

Mansell and Ferrari also stick in my mind in relation to this...

[Tim Murray]

Yes, the Barnard-designed Ferrari 640 was the first to race with a semi-automatic box and paddle shifters, in 1989 with Mansell and Berger. This led Gerhard to wonder whether racing drivers of the future would all have to have their left legs amputated to save weight, as they were no longer needed to operate the clutch. Luckily left-foot braking then became the norm.

[arttidesco]

1974 Lotus 76 didn't need a paddle. Once away from the line with a foot operated clutch drivers had a clutch button on the gearknob IIRC ;-)

[nmansellfan]

Danmills and Ray are on the nose here, The 1989 Ferrari F1/89 had a hand operated clutch and did not have a clutch pedal.

 

I have read somewhere in the past that it was actually Mauro Forghieri that came up with the original idea, as a 312T3 was modified for 1979 to trial a semi automatic system.  Villeneuve also tested the system on a 312T5 in 1980 (there are pictures on the internet floating around with him testing the car at Fiorano, with no bodywork).  I don't know if these cars ran with a traditional clutch pedal as well, and obviously they didn't start a GP race.

 

The 1974 Lotus 76 was the first car to have an electronic clutch (a button on the gearlever) but it still retained its clutch pedal for starts only.

Edited by nmansellfan, 27 April 2020 - 10:43.

[nmansellfan]

Ah I see Tim and artidesco got there first while I was waffling!

[Lee Nicolle]

My 1968 speedway Supermodified has a hand clutch. Way ahead of Eff one. And driven with left foot braking.

And it had racing harness's in 68 also. Eff one was still no belts. 

[uffen]

I recall a Lotus of the Peterson era where the clutch was activated using a button atop the gear lever. It wasn't successful but it was used in at least one race. 

[guiporsche]

Work on the Ferrari semi-automatic gearbox certainly started in 1978. It was public enough that by January 79 Autosprint was reporting that Ferrari was testing it with Giorgio Enrico at the wheel of a modified Ferrari 312 T3. Unless I'm mistaken Elio de Angelis also tested it in late 78. Pictures of the car going round Fiorano were published and in one of their January 79 numbers Autosprint published a diagram of how it worked (picture below, , courtesy of the forum gpx.it):

 

https://uploads.tapa...40446a21fd2.jpg

 

But also: http://www.modelfoxb...mbioFerrari.htm ; and https://www.formulap...ico-105490.html

 

Development work on the gearbox seems to have on and off from 1979 to 80, this latter time on a T5. Due to COVID and work my personal library is some thousands of kilometers away, but if I remember correctly Forghieri 'wrote' on his biography that not only Gilles preferred the feel & control of a manual gearbox, but that developping the semi, namely getting the right hydraulic valves would prove way to expensive so they used valves from machine tools instead. The gearbox seemed to have worked well but made the T5 30kg heavier than usual. As all available financial resources were being allocated to the Turbo engine right the Reparto Corse decided to drop the gearbox project, which would eventually be resumed in 1986...

[Ibsey]

 

Can someone verify if the 1994 Mclaren MP4/9 was the first F1 car to feature a hand operated clutch paddle and not a clutch pedal?

 

 

I can. When researching for my 1994 book, I remember seeing an small autosport article stating exactly that. The article in question was in the news section of a January 1994 edition of Autosport. All this meant F1 cars could then become two pedal layouts so allowed for left foot braking to become a feature again (LFB wasn't necessary in the active era of F1).   

Edited by Ibsey, 28 April 2020 - 15:48.

[Gold]

Yes, the Barnard-designed Ferrari 640 was the first to race with a semi-automatic box and paddle shifters, in 1989 with Mansell and Berger. This led Gerhard to wonder whether racing drivers of the future would all have to have their left legs amputated to save weight, as they were no longer needed to operate the clutch. Luckily left-foot braking then became the norm.

You are describing gear change paddles. I’m talking about a clutch paddle. They are different things. I’m sure the early semi automatic Ferrari’s of 89-90-91-92-93 all had a clutch pedal (not paddle).

 

Removing the gearlinkage and putting the gear selector on the wheel and putting the entire clutch control on the steering wheel was separated by around a decade in development.

 

So, is it certain then that the MP4/9 was the first (non experimental or one off) F1 car to have a hand operated clutch paddle on the steering wheel?

 

https://www.artandre...raphie-4130.jpg

 

Photo of late eighties Ferrari 639 showing only gear change paddles not an extra clutch paddle. That makes sense as it’s insanity to think that development would have gone from gear lever and foot clutch to hand gear paddles and hand clutch paddle immediately in 1 season. The reality is that there was about a decade of development between those.

Edited by Gold, 28 April 2020 - 14:15.

[gold333]

I can. When researching for my 1994 book, I remember seeing an small autosport article stating exactly that. The article in question was in the news section of a January 1994 edition of Autosport. All this meant F1 cars could then become two pedal layouts so allowed for left foot braking to become a feature again (LFB wasn't necessary in the active era of F1).   

Awesome. Dug it up and you are right. MP4/9 it was.

https://i.imgur.com/...qsX.jpg<br><br>https://upload.wikim.../Mclaren_02.jpg

Edited by gold333, 28 April 2020 - 19:42.