Supercars close to ditching paddle shift, auto blip for Gen3
I have mentioned the biggest question at the moment is paddle v stick shift. It seemed despite fans and drivers wanting to retain the stick shift and with it the extra driver involvement it was all headed towards a paddle shift with auto (throttle) blip.
It seems not so fast, and stick shift is now favourite..... but not for the right reasons sadly.
Now, it has become apparent that the introduction of an electronic actuator might not happen; and instead, the manually operated gear shift could remain.
It’s understood the technical complexity of the new mechanism, the electronic actuator, is at the heart of the proposal to ditch it entirely.
Without getting too technical, the issue is related to the Xtrac transaxle,which has been the spec transmission for a few years now and is a carryover for Gen 3.
While the Xtrac set-up is flexible in that it can be operated manually or electronically, it is believed the Gen3 prototypes have suffered from technical gremlins that may prove too difficult and/or costly to overcome.
Under the new set-up seen in the Gen3 prototypes, gear changes are made by triggering a paddle shifter or lever which sends a signal to the electronic actuator to move up or down a gear.
Apparently both the Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang suffered issues during a shakedown and testing at Queensland Raceway.
So on the basis of a fix / adaptation being too complicated and expensive to implement and be reliable we might just have to stay with the stickshift.
They did say at Bathurst when they launched Gen 3 to the public that the shifter decision would need to be made in the next few weeks to kee the project on track. That seems to be favouring the stay as we are easy way out.
Not yet confirmed but seemingly it wont be long.
As a purist it makes me happy.
The Ford Mustang we have seen wont be what we get next year.
Oh the other news re Gen 3 is that the bodyshell we saw for the Mustang might not be what is on the car when they launch in 2023.
Ford are known to be launching a new model and shape Mustang mid 2022 in the US, and which will filter down here by year end. It seems Ford clearly want the V8SC Series to have what is relevant to the market as the car to be raced so I believe behind the scenes that is what will happen and is no doubt in the planning area now.
Ford will no doubt cover all the homologation costs of the new body shape. I just hope it fits nicely into the Gen3 cage and Chassis so we dont end up with a race. car that looks as wrong as the current V8SC Mustang does when compared to a road car. There was an excuse for that, A two door coupe bodyshell had to be stretched to fit the 4 door Falcon / Commodore body that the Gen 2 chassis and cage was built for.
Im sure the Gen 3 version will be fine and this is more just a heads up not to expect the Gen 3 Mustang to look like what we have seen to date on the prototypes.
