What is a sequential manual gearbox?

"jjhats" (ssaxman) 02/28/2016 at 16:52 • Filed to: None

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This corvette is listed is as a sequential gearbox and clearly has a shifter and clutch. What is a sequential gearbox? I’ve also heard of some of the mclaren f1 race cars having a sequential box and similarly have doubts that they mean paddle shifters. Overpriced c6 race car for your time:

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bob and john > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 16:57

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squentials are motorcycle sytle trans missions.

you can only shift one gear up (or down) at any point in time.

you know how rally cars they just pull or push once for a gear change? thats exactly what a sequational box is.

same thing here.

you really only use the clutch to get moving. after that, you just bang through the gears.

CounterTorqueSteer > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 16:57

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It means that the gear lever is just tapped up or down to switch gears. You are not working through a gate to select the gear. The clutch is most likely used for just getting going.

Cé hé sin > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 16:58

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Motorcycle type, one push or pull of the lever gives you the next gear up or down. No H pattern, you have to go through each gear.

djmt1 > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 16:58

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According to my in depth knowledge (The animations from Test Drive Unlimited) a sequential gearbox shifter only goes two ways. Forwards and backwards. So you can’t jump from say 4th to 2nd, instead you would hold the shifter down and wait for it to shift as many times as you desire.

Van Man, rocks the Man Van > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 16:59

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(I’m not 100% sure but this is how I understand it:)

A sequential gearbox like the one above has a shifter that only allows you to shift sequential (hence the name) gears. A usual manual would let you, for example, shift from 1-4 if you wanted to, which you couldn’t do with a sequential gearbox. You can only go in the “correct” order (1-2-3-4-5-6) when shifting gears. I assume this is to prevent race car drivers from accidentally skipping gears when shifting in the heat of a race.

e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 16:59

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A sequential manual is a manual that has to shift through each gear to get to the next. i.e if you wanted to go from 6 down to 4, you have to shift 6-5-4 instead of just going 6-4 like you can in a normal gearbox.

Its advantages are that they can generally shift without the clutch and they dont have a pattern, just push it forward to go down a gear, backward to go up(so its faster and more idiot-proof), and I think lighter.

The downsides are they are very loud and I think a bit less durable in the long run.

I’m sure someone with a more detailed knowledge will come along shortly and point out all my errors.

C62030 > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 17:00

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I believe these systems work like a manual, but you can’t directly select gears, just up and down - so that shifter probably only goes forward and back. It works like paddles, but with a clutch. I’m not exactly sure why they do it.

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > bob and john 02/28/2016 at 17:03

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Clutch is used to get going and down shifting

Gone > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 17:11

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Pretty much most everyone covered it. Most sequentials are also clutchless, so the clutch is only for getting going. All gears in a row, no H pattern, so no missed shifts. Moto box style.

Flappy paddle is a different set of shifters (servos by way of the paddles instead of a linkage) on what is essentially the same box.

Holinger box is how Caddy murdered everyone in WC their first year, many years ago. Somehow convinced the SCCA to give them weight and fender breaks, more power (larger restrictor), and a seq box (Holinger, obviously) instead of an H-pattern box. SCCA should have been embarrassed over that one. But no.

Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 17:18

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What, and more importantly why:

They mean paddle shifters. I have them. The clutch is automatic and gear changes take a little less than .3 seconds and you don’t have the option of fucking up a gear change. The engine will automatically blip the throttle on downshifts or ignore your input completely if a downshift will put you over redline. It wil also downshift on it’s own rather than stall the engine. Trade offs are weight and complexity. Hyrdaulic pumps are involved. Failure doesn’t mean losing a gear, it means you are stranded. You can’t throw your keys to a valet as they have no idea WTF they’re even looking at as it’ll look almost like an automatic transmission at a glance but there’s no Park setting. You park in neutral (generally) and use the e-brake.

That car has the pull handle rather than paddle shifters probably because of it’s age or because it was built by someone who works on rally cars. Rally cars still use pull handles like that as paddle shifters are hard to use when you’re getting your fillings knocked out trying to not kill any spectators.

Every other comment I’ve read is accurate but nobody addressed why you’d want such a thing.

Also, they’re freaking bad ass.

jjhats > Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief 02/28/2016 at 17:21

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Except this car clearly has a clutch and is referenced in the description

Sam > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 17:36

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Doesn’t look like it to me.

Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 17:45

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Clutch doesn’t mean three pedals, which is the light bulb moment here I suspect. You don’t push down a pedal and then have a 65 millisecond shift and then lift your pedal back up. You pull, it disengages, changes gear, and re-engages. No pedal involved, sir. Not in a modern day race car. Us humans are too slow and mistake prone.

Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 17:49

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Listen to the shifts.

AntiSpeed > Van Man, rocks the Man Van 02/28/2016 at 17:53

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I think it’s more that it shifts faster than to keep drivers from accidentally skipping.

Berang > Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief 02/28/2016 at 17:55

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If it’s a true constant mesh sequential, there are a number of reasons, such as the gearbox is stronger, but also shifts quicker and prevents somebody skipping gears.

tromoly > Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief 02/28/2016 at 18:16

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That’s one such system, sure. In reality there’s many, many different ways to shift a sequential transmission, some are very sophisticated while others rock-dumb simple. Some have pneumatics, some are purely mechanical actuation. Some have ignition cuts for upshifts and throttle blips on downshifts, some require a bit more driver input. Some have paddles running a push-pull cable for shifting, others have gear levers that run pneumatic actuators. Some tap into the engine’s ECU to know when it’s safe to downshift, others don’t care and will gladly over-rev your engine at will.

The system in each car really depends on the class, the SCCA F600 class allows paddle shifters but no pneumatics and no shifting assistance so it’s a paddle-shifted mechanical system with driver clutching and throttle blipping, while V8 Supercars doesn’t allow paddle shifters but has ignition cutting and a bunch of other shifting aides. So it really comes down to what the racing class requires, the possibilities are literally endless.

Flynorcal: pilot, offshore sailor, car racer and panty thief > tromoly 02/28/2016 at 18:40

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Ah! That explains why it varies so much. I figured it was more evolutionary. Hadn’t thought of racing rules. Thanks!

jjhats > Sam 02/28/2016 at 19:28

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All corvettes have floor mounted throttle pedals. It's removed or hidden here. The clutch and brake are top hinged

Van Man, rocks the Man Van > AntiSpeed 02/28/2016 at 19:47

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That too I guess. Maybe what I said is just a happy coincidence.

nafsucof > jjhats 02/28/2016 at 23:59

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Pretty sure when there is a clutch it’s only for first gear to get moving, then it’s push/pull

Mustafaluigi > jjhats 02/29/2016 at 08:18

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Sequential boxes are like those you see in rally cars. There is a clutch to get you moving but after that is just shifting. The thing is there is no shift pattern. You must shift through all the gears going up and down, like a motorcycle.

Mustafaluigi > Mustafaluigi 02/29/2016 at 08:20

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