I justhate to agree with JB, but five years from now, certainly in ten years, the clutch pedal as we know it will be gone.
It already is in every Formula One car, and won't ever be coming back. Our technology follows theirs, not Nascar's (which actually follows ours).
That's just the way it is. There is nothing wrong with that -- it makes left foot braking much easier and stone simple, for example. That, in turn, just makes you a better (and faster) driver.
JB has been a proponent of sequential shifters for a long time, probably too long.
The problem with the early systems (BMW M3 and the Ferraris) was that they were just not that well done. BMW is now on it's third generation (is it 3rd or 4th) system, and has finally gotten it to where it will shift as well as an accomplished stick driver can -- your head no longer snaps as the car jerks into each gear. Not having driven a Ferrari or a Maserati with one, I do read the reviews and the complaints on their systems are also still there.
Here the reviews for Maserati and BMW's new M5 from this month's Car and Driver:
"The starting point for the modern GranSport is the Coupé Cambiocorsa, which appeared in its current form, with a 4.2-liter V-8 engine and a transaxle incorporating a paddle-shift automated six-speed manual transmission, in 2002... Every successive version of the Cambiocorsa electrohydraulic shift system is a little bit better than the previous one. Maserati says the GranSport has specially developed software that makes shifting in sport mode 35 percent faster than before. We found that admirable—and not as brutal as the Ferrari's F1 shift..."
"Aside from the new engine there is a new transmission—the third generation of BMW's sequential manual gearbox (SMG)—that takes lessons learned from Formula 1 and applies them to the M5... Although this latest SMG is faster and smoother than ever, a skilled driver could achieve less jerky shifts. You may wonder why there's no conventional manual. It has to do with the way the gears are arranged in the tranny casing. First and second gears, which experience the most abuse and stress, find themselves nestled in the strongest parts of the casing to withstand the violently quick shifts that the SMG can make. The rest of the seven gears are arranged to follow the same logic. If the M5 had a normal shifter, its pattern would be a maze so intricate that even the smartest rats lured by the best cheese would have trouble figuring it out. Since the shifts are governed by electronics, there are different settings that alter shift speed and clutch slip. There's also a fully automatic mode. On the other side of the spectrum is the entertaining launch-control function that allows for maximum acceleration with minimal effort. To trigger launch control, shut off stability control, set the gearbox for the fastest shifts, push the shifter forward, and floor the throttle. What's odd is that you don't need to hold down the brake pedal. When the engine revs rise to 4000 rpm, release the shifter and keep the accelerator pedal floored. Gearchanges are head-bangingly fast and at the perfect rpm, as the program knows exactly when to shift. If there's enough space, the M5 will run to an indicated 168 mph..."
I've always strived to shift so smoothly that the passenger can't tell we've shifted -- up or down. Most of the time I hit the mark, sometimes I don't, but I certainly average better than the BMW system. Of course when I'm playing Pizzonia in the BMW Williams, the shifts are a bit more aggressive, and a bit of the smoothness goes away, but it's never to the point of whiplash like the 1st generation BMW system (or I guess the 3rd from what the M5 review says).
This new-fangled dual clutch thing may be just the ticket that this technology needed. Two clutches, one disengaging while the other is engaging. Much smoother than the earlier systems I would suspect.
I, quite frankly, can't wait for it to come out on the Corvette -- no more need to flip back and forth with your left foot from brake to clutch and back while settling the suspension with the throttle.
It's a good thing, as the incarcerated lady would say.
Cheers!
