NL_Fer wrote:You afe to late my friend. pre 2014, cars had a 7 gear box, with ratio's ajustable per race. They would have a whole truck, full of drawers with gearsets, just to built the perfect gearbox for just that race.
The Jordan 191 had a 6 speed manual gearbox supplied by Hewland.
I consulted with Garry Anderson on gearbox development at the time before visiting Ferrari.
I suggested the maximum number of ratios for the projected 'motor cycle' shift sequential that Garry had in mind was 7 gears.
This was the number of ratios used for the Jordan 192 which by then had the semi auto box I had discussed with Ferrari.
Later the FIA decided to limit the number of ratios to 7.
Much later with the introduction of KERS it was found that the rear of the cars was too unstable under braking with the auto and semi auto sequential down shifts and the FIA allowed 8 gears with more fixed ratios.
So today we have F1 cars that the drivers have little or no control over car pitch and lateral stability in braking.
IMO nearly 50 percent of car control capability has gone.
Front brake lock up is now a result of out of balance electronic control not driver skill level.
The cars might just as well be auto go karts just with more power.
)