Is the pattern different?

[taz_rocks_miami]

Here's something I've always wondered. On RHD cars, is the H pattern different than on LHD cars? As you well know, on LHD cars 1st gear (normaly) is at the top left shift gate, 2nd straight down (bottom left) 3rd to the right of 1st at top and so on. On RHD cars, are they in the same pattern or 1st at top right?

This may sound like a dumb question, but I've never driven a RHD car. Forgive my ingnorence on the matter :( I just wanted to know once and for all.

Taz.

[Coventrysucks]

1 3 5
| | |
- -
| | |
2 4 6/R

Reverse certainly gets about a lot doesn't it.

[taz_rocks_miami]

1 3 5
| | |
- -
| | |
2 4 6/R

Reverse certainly gets about a lot doesn't it.

Thanks! HMMM, since I'm right handed it would take me a bit of practice to get used to 1st and 2nd bieng on the far side of the gate. Oh well, I'll practice when I go visit my sister in London.

Taz.

[henk4]

Thanks! HMMM, since I'm right handed it would take me a bit of practice to get used to 1st and 2nd bieng on the far side of the gate. Oh well, I'll practice when I go visit my sister in London.

Taz.

I am left handed and have managed to drive manual left hand drive cars since 1967. You'll manage :)

[ruim20]

or

--1 3 5
--| | |
R/2 4 6

or

R/1 3 5
--| | |
--2 4 6

or even

R 1 3 5
\ | | |
--2 4 6

[Benz_Boy_1]

I am left handed and have managed to drive manual left hand drive cars since 1967. You'll manage :)
lol! dont mean to sound rude, but how old are ya?
;)

[henk4]

lol! dont mean to sound rude, but how old are ya?
;)

see profile

[VtecMini]

Tsk tsk! You clearly forgot:

1 3
|_|_
| | |
2 4 R

Some of us still don't have the luxury of a fifth. :)

[henk4]

everybody forgot that even in the UK you can rent an automatic!!

[taz_rocks_miami]

everybody forgot that even in the UK you can rent an automatic!!

LOL :D I hate automatics, they bore the hell out of me. I'll have fun practicing in my sisters car. She's never told me what it is though, she's not a car person (niether is her husband), but since I'm the one who tought her how to drive, I guess she won't mind me talking her car out for a few hot laps around London muahahahaha.

Oh, and thanks to everyone who drew up the different H patterns for me!!

Taz.

[jameswithington]

You guys forgot:

R 2 4
l -l - l
1 3 5

This is the pattern used in a lot of racing gearboxes of both past and present. It's called a dog-leg first gear, the thinking behind it is that in race situations you only use 1st gear for the launch and after that you just use 2, 3, 4 and 5. Having those four gears in one single "H" means there should be less shifting across the gate (which is generally slower). Obviously when race cars starting using 6+ gears that went out of the window.

Dog-leg first gears were also used on all Ferrari road cars, presumably to give the impression of being at the helm of a proper race-bred car. It truth it became a pain in everyday traffic because there was quite a large gap between the slots for R/1 and 2/3, meaning the shift between 1st and 2nd was always an awkward one. Also on the older models the heavy spring-loaded bias returned the stick to a resting point somewhere inbetween 2/3 and 4/5 as it would do on a race gearbox, making reverse and 1st even harder to find! Ferrari didn't stop using this pattern until the mid-nineties with the debuts of the 355, 550, and F50 which all used 6 gears so it made more sense to just use a standard 'double-H' pattern.

[henk4]

I changed james' his pattern to the one I saw this weekend on a Ferrari Dino 156f1 car from 1957. This looks even more absurd, as the highest gears are in the middle.

R 4 2
l -l - l
1 5 3

[taz_rocks_miami]

I changed james' his pattern to the one I saw this weekend on a Ferrari Dino 156f1 car from 1957. This looks even more absurd, as the highest gears are in the middle.

R 4 2
l -l - l
1 5 3

Wow:eek: Ferrari really used that pattern!? That's the craziest thing I ever saw!

Taz.

[henk4]

I changed james' his pattern to the one I saw this weekend on a Ferrari Dino 156f1 car from 1957. This looks even more absurd, as the highest gears are in the middle.

R 4 2
l -l - l
1 5 3


Here is the picture that shows the Dino selector, taken last saturday at the Nuerburgring. Car is owned by Corrado Cupellini from Italy.

[Wouter Melissen]

Dog-leg first gears were also used on all Ferrari road cars, presumably to give the impression of being at the helm of a proper race-bred car. It truth it became a pain in everyday traffic because there was quite a large gap between the slots for R/1 and 2/3, meaning the shift between 1st and 2nd was always an awkward one.

My Mini has a similar 'problem', the distance between 2nd and 3rd is large enough to fit another slot in. It's like going from 2nd to 5th in a modern car.