21 replies to this topic

[dretceterini]

I'd like to hear people's thoughts on which is easier...and why some sports cars even though the drivers seats were on the right, still had the shifter to the right of the driver (on the door sill)...

[Ray Bell]

Mostly, I'm sure you'll find, it's convenience of design and manufacture...

The old front engined cars simply had the gearlever in the middle, right?

Where it was convenient for the linkages.

But in mid-engined cars, the linkage has to go around the engine. Taking it back to the centre of the car again adds complication, weight, reliability problems...

[dbw]

like most old folks in the USA i grew up driving lhd with a center shift.[typ euro 4- speed]..so when things got weird..[pre-war alvis,riley] i sort of got used to rhd with a center shift..[the pattern remained the same].tho it never really got "natural" for me...my old invicta was rhd with an outside shift originally but had been altered to a center shift....same thing....the gp bugattis have rhd with an outside shift and even tho the gate is ass-backward it actually is the easiest vintage car to drive for me.....the most difficult was my old sprinter with a center shift..it took a lot of concentration to reach up under the steering wheel and with the old ford 3 speed remember just what gear i was in ....the best of all, with not much of a learning curve ,was the 12/4 riley with the wilson pre-selector! i never missed a shift and it was quick as a wink...i won't even get into reverse patterns but they never seem to be in the same place and even with a gate i have to look down and think a bit...the best modern car i've ever driven is my honda s2000 6 speed[lhd]....unbelievable!

have we talked about center throttles??

[David McKinney]

Having done all my driving in right-hand-drive cars, with the gear-change on the left, I was terrified the first time I drove a single-seater, with right-hand change, that it would be a problem. The next time I thought about it was after I got out after several laps in the car. Made not one iota of difference, and I didn't even think of dropping my left hand from the wheel.

[michaelab]

I think that for most people (right handed and learned to drive in LHD car) shifting with their right hand is easier and feels more natural. I certainly feel that way to me allthough I learned to drive in the UK (rhd) and lived there for a long time. The last couple of years though before I moved to Portugal I had LHD cars and now I live in a LHD country and I find shifting with my right hand so much more natural (allthough of course I don't have a problem changing gear on a RHD car).

AFAIK nearly all single seaters have the gear lever on the right hand side (even British ones in the lower formulas where drivers are likely to use their left hand on road cars). The Ford GT40 is the only road legal sports car I know that was RHD but had the shifter in the door sill for right handed shifting. I think the McLaren F1, with its centre driving seat has the shifter to the right of the driver aswell.

I can only imagine that left handed shifting would be easier or more natural for a left-handed person.

Michael.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by David McKinney
Having done all my driving in right-hand-drive cars, with the gear-change on the left, I was terrified the first time I drove a single-seater, with right-hand change, that it would be a problem. The next time I thought about it was after I got out after several laps in the car. Made not one iota of difference, and I didn't even think of dropping my left hand from the wheel.

No old Vauxhalls, Riley Pathfinders or Wolseley 6/90s in your life, David? You surprise me...

I think you make the point well, though. Once you're in the car it's not an issue at all. So it comes back down to what I said... though it must be that some of the early transaxles used in mid-engined F1 cars must have had their linkage hookups on the right hand side.

[john medley]

Of the three historic racing cars I own , one has rh 'change, one centre, and the third can be either but at the moment has lh change; the first car is an offset( to the left) front engined singleseater , the second a 2 seater front engined , and the third a rear engined single seater . Apart from the consequences of driver stupidity ( which I can produce at any time), there is no difference that I can perceive. My co driver ie ' er indoors is of the same opinion.

I know dbw's feelings re Ford 3speed gearbox: my prewar Ford V8 special has such a box, long whippy lever and all , and I too do have to think what gear I'm in. It's a pleasure to just rely on all that torque and a pleasure not to change gear.

I've probably raced all the permutations and combinations of gearlever locations, I think my preference is to the right ( and outside the body, as on many vintage racing cars), and the least preferred is the evil instrument located somewhere down there between the legs in a central seat racing car. The most unusual location I noticed was on one of the quick UK Morgans that came to Australia to race in 1988 ( Stuart Harper, perhaps?) , where the driver had to lean forward and reach backwards to do the deed.

[Ray Bell]

And what Special was it that had a single lever between the driver's legs topped by a cross-piece that curved up each side of the steering wheel so that it was right or left at the driver's choice?

Was that perhaps the Rex Law Buick? Might have been, but it seems like a lot of effort for a car with just a 2-speed Ruckstell... maybe it was in Lex Winten's time because he had a deformed hand or something?

[rdrcr]

Having only experience in competition with right-side seat and right-side shifting and with paddles I'm limited in that regard. One of the reasons I chose my current mount was the location of the controls - being familiar with the layout. My old CSR and the Chevron were the same.

Though I must say, the most intuitive way to work the shifting of a car is with your hands, where the right side of your body is programmed to go faster and the left is programmed to go slower, I left foot brake obviously when using a paddle shift. The crossover to right foot braking isn't much of a leap in mental conditioning compared with adjusting to a left hand shift, IMO.

Pictured, are two examples of the same type car, a Chevron B16 with right and left hand shifters.

[Racers Edge]

One thing to note on the driving position, ( Sports cars) having the steering on the right side, usually will give you some advantage on most tracks as the direction of the race is usually "clock-wise" so your on the inside of a majority of the corners...but on those left handed corners like Corner 2 at Mosport "off camber" and on a huge blind hill, will give you a thrill on every lap....Right or left shift? ...I think most drivers will agree, no advantage, what ever makes you feel comfortable, and for some, it's what you are used to...

[Dick Willis]

If you look at the configuration of the selectors at the rear of a Hewland gearbox, it is easy to understand that the gearshift would be on the right for cars equipped with this box.

[Geoff E]

Originally posted by Dick Willis
If you look at the configuration of the selectors at the rear of a Hewland gearbox, it is easy to understand that the gearshift would be on the right for cars equipped with this box.

I imagine they would have originally made it "opposite handed" if people preferred left-hand change. I heard it suggested a few months ago that the "preferred" gearbox which they used on the F3 500cc cars needed a right-hand shift and that this became the norm.

[jph]

In the latter years of the 1.5litre F1, BRMs were unusual in having left hand shifts, where most cars had right hand. The V12 BRMs had right hand shifts and I seem to recall that one of the problems with Bernard White's P261, which was converted to take a V12 plus associated drivetrain, was the complicated gear linkage, taking it from the right hand side of the gearbox (looking from behind) to the left side of the monocoque.

[Ian Stewart]

Reminds me of a huge embarrassment. Before the start of the Goodwood 9 hour race (in I think '52) Lofty England sent me back to the hotel to collect a driver's crash helmet which had been forgotten. Lofty had every right to expect that his drivers knew how to drive, but when I got into his Jaguar I was nonplussed.

No gear lever. Funny thing on the steering column with letters on it. Out of car. Ran back to pits. Admission of witless ignorance. Barked instructions, plus very, very hard look indeed!

Back to the topic though - I've never noticed any difference with right or left-hand shifting.

[Lotus23]

Grew up with LHD and RH gear shift. The Lotus, of course, was the opposite: RHD with LH gear shift. It took a little time to get accustomed to it, but with a bit of practice it became second nature.

Same with two-wheelers: shifting with one's L toe while accelerating with the R hand and braking with R hand and foot. And clutch with the L hand. (Sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is!)

[Andrew Fellowes]

At Silverstone one year I was talking to a large Yorkshire gentleman jammed in a small single seater that had a centre gear lever, perilously close for comfort, “How do you get on with the gear change?” I asked in awe. “Ay lad” he replied, “don’t 'alf make eyes water when you brake hard.”
Left or right I cant see either as a problem, but centre? ugh!

[Doug Nye]

Welcome to TNF Andrew - 450S family???? - In my experience anyone half-adequately wired-up should take to left-hand, right-hand or centre gearchanging without a moment's conscious thought. Enter that next corner fast enough, or deep enough, and you'll find you've changed down in a flash. If the car is your own, wind it up through the rev range and when the needle reaches that red line with the £ or $ sign on it you'll find you have changed up equally smartly. It really should not be a problem. If it is then the real problem would be the driver...

DCN

[john medley]

Another example of the evils of a central gear lever stuck somewhere down there in an already crowded cockpit:
Ron Reid at Winton Historics some years ago in the Sulman Singer ( which is so crowded that one third of the steering wheel rim has been removed) and wearing one of those segmented steel watchbands. On a crucial gearchange the watchband undid itself and handcuffed Racing Ronnie's hand under the gearlever knob for the rest of the race. He ( and all onlookers ) understood what had happened only after he stopped.

[Racers Edge]

Talking about "center-shifts" I had a nice invitation by Tom Wheatcroft one rainy Donnington day to test a few of his GP cars eg; Alta / BRM P-25/ and his Classic Formula, that had a center-shift, have to admit, that car was a handfull for 2 laps but then, it was all natural...but when I first climbed in, I thought: "You have got to be kidding" but all went well...still rather have the shift on the left or the right anyday...

[Ray Bell]

As long as you never have to admit that a centre shift has a natural feel to it...

[Racers Edge]

Ray.....Pre-VIAGRA...

[Rainer Nyberg]

Slightly OT...but I recall the introduction of the Airbus A320 series of airliners, which has joystick controls, to the left for the captain and to the right for the first officer.

There were some concerns about this arrangement due to the commander having to use his (unnatural?) left hand to control the aircraft. However to my knowledge this never was any problem which suggests that the human can adapt himself very well in using both his hands.