Hayabusa MK-Indy-R. 90% road use, 10% track. (LHD).
Stick or paddle shift?
I'm a noobie, not only to the forum, but to the world of becs. "There's no fool like an old fool." (I'm ret'd too).

This will open a can of worms between those with and those without.
I'll chuck my tuppence worth in first:-

Paddle shift

Hands on the steering wheel means better control and ever so slightly quicker gear change.

My first thought is "old dogs and new tricks," and to continue with what's familiar, ie stick.
Are there any reliability issues attached to one position over the other, or is it purely an ergonomic consideration?

If you look at touring car and rally car drivers you will see some with paddle shift, and others with stick shift (for sequential gearboxes, that is).

I think it's mostly down to personal preference... whatever works best for the driver concerned.

I think the only people that really know are the ones that have had both.

I notice from your "building tag" that you're having your car built by the MK guys, that's cool, and I also know that they love their stick shifts and have a cool raised chassis portion bracket for the gear lever.

If you were asking to do it on a finished MK with their raised bracket, I'd say leave it as it is, but if it's a new build and they can make a paddleshift as good (smooth and light shifting) as their stick, then I would say def. go for the paddleshift. They are great for the reasons that you can realise...

ATB
Steve

(I've had both)

Edited to add:- U2U sent to you Bob...

[Edited on 2/8/11 by Steve Hignett]

Paddle shift ....has to be ..!!! you will want to keep both hands on the wheel when running the hayabusa

just notice whos building the Car ....!!!! fit a paddle shift but not the one MK supplies as its pants ...I got one with my kit and i binned it for a proper paddle shift from A B performance
Its a bit like most of the crap and cheap parts they fit to the car...

[Edited on 2/8/11 by noc231073]

I asked my tame racing driver and he said 'stick, definately stick' so thats what I'm putting on my BEC race car.

Personal preference, but i've been using stick, and when next out will be paddle as i think it'll be much better

quote:

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Originally posted by noc231073
just notice whos building the Car ....!!!! fit a paddle shift but not the one MK supplies as its pants ...I got one with my kit and i binned it for a proper paddle shift from A B performance
Its a bit like most of the crap and cheap parts they fit to the car...

[Edited on 2/8/11 by noc231073]

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My front Hayabusa engined Fury's paddle shift worked great - reasonable quality cable and a short reasonably direct run.

The paddle shift on my BDN with a mid mounted ZX10 is horrible and I'll be ditching it for a stick as soon as I can - I think it's mainly because of the long cable run but it seems some engines are just better than others. Mates with R1s, Blades etc. get away with similar cable runs and a much easier, slicker shift.

You can mount a stick quite close to the wheel anyway so in terms of ergonomics I don't believe the paddle is as huge a benefit as some make out but for your application a paddle should work fine.

BobM

Thanks for the input.
It's interesting to note that a contributor's racing driver pal, and Danny at MK who's no slouch around the track, both recommeded stick.
I would have thought 'seasoned trackies' like them would have gone for paddle, but it's just the opposite.
I fancy I'll have quite enough to think about without trying to master new skills master new skills, although having been here in Spain for 10 years, old habits die hard. With 33 years previous UK driving experience, it was about 4 years before my left arm totally gave up reaching for a 'phantom' gear lever.
A touch of Dr Strangelove I think !

Stick, long one so its right next to your left hand on the wheel aka rally or touring car setup.

If you did end up going for Stick instead of Paddle Bob, I know a very nice man who has one of these totally cool, strong and lightweight gear knobs left!!!



Or, you can have a look here, for the plain UD weave carbon ones!!!


http://locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=137956

http://locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=129261



Steve

quote:

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Originally posted by bobinspain

quote:

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Originally posted by noc231073
just notice whos building the Car ....!!!! fit a paddle shift but not the one MK supplies as its pants ...I got one with my kit and i binned it for a proper paddle shift from A B performance
Its a bit like most of the crap and cheap parts they fit to the car...

[Edited on 2/8/11 by noc231073]

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Appalling comment!
Utterly and completely ill-considered; particularly in light of the fact that I've committed to a £15k plus build. Transport and matriculation for the road here in Spain add another £2.5k on top of that.
I suspect you have a blighted worldview, focussing on MK Sportscars specifically.
As my old grandma used to say, "If you've nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all."

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Davegtst

I appreciate the reply, thankyou.
Put yourself in my shoes for a moment. I'm 1000 miles away and committed to spending £17.5k, (having done more tha just cursory research).

The guy may have had the worst service in the history of Kit Car production, (in his opinion). To dump that all over me serves no purpose whatsoever, except perhaps to make him feel momentarily better, and me terminally worried (despite my research).

My last 'toy' in UK was a Lotus 340-R #315 of 340 UK cars. With 'track pack, that set me back not far short of £40k. Guess what?
The tyres fouled the mudguards when the suspension was worked hard, and at high revs (over 6,500) there was a persistent missfire, (common to most 340s). I had it back to Lotus twice and Nelmes of Romford twice to try and remedy the problem.

"Judge as you find" I suppose.

I'll go with stick.

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve Hignett
If you did end up going for Stick instead of Paddle Bob, I know a very nice man who has one of these totally cool, strong and lightweight gear knobs left!!!

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Bob

Just another idea - Ive seen a car fitted with both.
Best of both worlds or a waste of timeeffort depending on yout viewpoint.

Wheels244

To be fair, Danny at MK had no axe to grind either way when I asked his advice. He said his personal preference was "stick", but if I was unsure, they could fit both. ("I used to be undecided, but now I'm not so sure."

Better the devil I know, I think.

One point though:-I note that on Youtube the guys using stick shift change up by pushing the stick away from them, and down by pulling towards them. The 'normal' car engine/gearbox involves pulling the stick towards you as speed builds and you up-shift. To me it seems counter-intuitive to be pushing the stick away as speed builds. (Just a thought).

My preference with the stick, is to push to go down. It feels a lot more normal under braking to be pushing away from you and under accelerating to be pulling towards you. However at a couple of points, the global was reversed and once i got use to it, it didn't really matter......

quote:

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Originally posted by Wheels244
Just another idea - Ive seen a car fitted with both.
Best of both worlds or a waste of timeeffort depending on yout viewpoint.

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I went for a paddle and love it. A BEC/sequential gearchange is so different to an H gate it takes time to adapt so being completly different was no problem. It was also easier to arrange the linkage on my car/engine combo for a paddle than a stick so was a no-brainer really. Down on the left, up on the right, which is pretty much the way paddle equiped tin-tops are I think. The stick change ones I've driven have been forward for up and I found that counter intuetive.

I think it's really only the WRC cars that have both now. I think that the stick is also there as it is closer to the hydraulic handbrake.

Thread revival...

From what ive seen, most paddles don't move with the wheel, therefore if you need to grab a gear when turning, you'll need to take your hand off the wheel anyway?

I love the idea of paddles though.

Flatshifter,geartronics and xoomspeed all move with wheel. It's usually the cable or rod mount setups which don't/can't turn

quote:

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Originally posted by Banana
Thread revival...

From what ive seen, most paddles don't move with the wheel, therefore if you need to grab a gear when turning, you'll need to take your hand off the wheel anyway?

I love the idea of paddles though.

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