Can somebody give me a dummy's explanation of what a sequential shifter does and its value. I've got basic car knowledge but things go over my head quickly. Thanks!

You can do no lift upshifting, as soon as your hand touches the shifter, the computer cuts the gas and you push forward and the car will shift to the next gear. You still need to use the clutch and heel toe for down shifting (by pulling back on the shifter).

GMG and FBL sells conversion kits.

Aw... so you still have to use the clutch, but inly for downshifting.

Yes, that's a feature of a sequential gearbox but it isn't because of the sequential mechanism. H-pattern gearboxes (e.g. old MK9s that have been around forever) can no-lift shift. It is having dog rings that enables no-lift shift.

nope. again, due to dog rings, you do not have to use the clutch period. nothing to do with the sequential mechanism.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/sequential-gearbox.htm (easily found by google) is a great description of a sequential gearbox and its benefits.

Note that the conversion kits mentioned here only replicate the shift action and do not provide most of the benefits of an actual sequential gearbox, and they actually complicate the shifter mechanism (some kits can be unreliable). IOW, rice.

sounds like PDK is easier.

in a sequential gearbox you do need to use the clutch in engaging first gear and reverse.

Upshifts can then be clutchless, so can downshifts (requires a lot more skill than clutchless upshifting).

i have a holinger sequential in my viper, speaking from experience

In other words... thread OWNAGE

(rep point for vegasviper)

sure, when stopped and engaging any gear you need to use the clutch of course, and again this has nothing to do with the sequential mechanism.

I don't see the point to those expensive gearboxes when manual gearboxes found in Porsche's and Vipers are already strong to begin with. If it's shift time you're after, learn to shift faster!

Quote:
Originally Posted by mobonic
Aw... so you still have to use the clutch, but inly for downshifting.

"nope. again, due to dog rings, you do not have to use the clutch period. nothing to do with the sequential mechanism."



both of the above are your quotes, which one is correct?

"you do not have to use the clutch period" is incorrect. When stopped, you have to use the clutch. I should have said that you do not have to use the clutch when downshifting either.

I have the hollinger-sourced sequential as the stock tranny in my '08 GT3 cup. You should use the clutch when downshifting, and you need to accurately blip the throttle to match revs.

Upshifts ARE fast but not so easy, in the higher gears it's easy to crunch the box if you don't hit it just right. It's cost me about $1K per hour to service my gearbox this year . And that's not unusual.

Here's what is looks like from inside the car:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j24yAwGrsRo

it has nothing to do with the strength of the transmission, it has to do with the speed of the gear changes and more importantly preventing missed shifts. Also, no matter how fast someone shifts in a conventional transmission it's still no match for a sequential. Think differently...watch the video posted below by analogmike. Also, you don't have to worry about binding synchros and you're always staying at the right place in the powerband or on Turbo cars, staying on boost. None of that really matters for street use or even at the lower levels of racing, but in the world where fractions of a second per lap makes a difference over an entire race, it's HUGE. Imagine two cars, same driver, same cars, only difference is transmissions. For example let's say to shift a normal car takes 1/2 second to shift vs 1/4 second to shift with a sequential transmission. You're on a track that takes 60 shifts total (both up and down shifting) per lap. The sequential is going to save you 15 seconds in shifting alone, now multiply it by thirty laps for the entire race and the benefits become pretty obvious. That's assuming that the conventional transmissioned car had a perfect run and didn't miss any gears. I hope that explains the benefits a little better.

Oh how I LOVE the sound of Straight-Cut gears!!!