If you have read the article on manual transmissions you will know why they use the standard "H" pattern in the shifter.

If you have ever ridden a motorcycle, you know that the manual transmission in a motorcycle is nothing like this. On a motorcycle, you shift gears by clicking a lever up or down with your toe. It is a much faster way to shift. This type of transmission is called a sequential gearbox or a sequential manual transmission. Most race cars use sequential gearboxes as well.

In a race car, the motion of the shift lever is either "push forward" to up-shift or "pull backward" to downshift. If you are in a gear and you want to go to a higher gear (e.g. from 2nd to 3rd), you push the shift lever forward. To go from 3rd to 4th, you push the lever forward again. To go from 4th to 5th, you press it forward again. It is the same motion every time. To drop back down a gear, say from 5th to 4th, you pull the lever backward. In European mass-produced automobiles, the shift lever moves forward and backward to shift into higher and lower gears, respectively. In Formula One cars, there are actually two paddles on the sides of the steering wheel, instead of a shift lever. The left paddle up-shifts, while the right paddle downshifts. On a motorcycle, you do the same thing, but instead of moving a lever back and forth with your hand, you move a lever up and down with your foot.

What these motions are doing is rotating a ratcheting drum. The drum has grooves cut into it which do one of two things:

• If the drum is located away from the transmission's gears, the grooves control standard control rods.
• If the drum is located next to the gears, the grooves directly move the gear selector fork, and no control rods are needed.

So, when you move the lever, it rotates the drum, changing the gears.

Because of the drum, you have to shift in sequence. There is no skipping, for example, from first gear to third. You must always go through second gear to get to third gear. It is the same when downshifting.

The advantage of this system is that shifting is quicker and shifting mistakes are impossible.

Questions:

1. What is the standard shifter pattern in a manual transmission?
2. On a sequential manual transmission how do you shift gears?
3. What are you doing when you “pull back” in a race car?
4. In Formula One cars what do they use instead of a shift lever? 
5. To upshift in a Formula One car which paddle do you use?
6. What rotates when moving the lever to change gears?
7. What do you understand under the term “shift in sequence”?

Answers:

1. H
2. Click a lever (In Formula One cars - click a paddle)
3. Downshifting
4. Paddles on either side of the steering wheel
5. Left paddle
6. Ratcheting drum
7. You can´t skip gears

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