Ferrari is set to offer the thrill of a manual gearbox again after a 14-year hiatus with the 12Cilindri Manuale. The 12Cilindri Manuale is the first Ferrari fitted with a clutch pedal – as well as the famous ‘canceletto’ open-gate shifter – since the California and is the first manual V12 from Maranello since the 599 GTB.
It will be limited to 1499 examples and, at $500,000, costs 50% more than the regular 12Cilindri. Departing Ferrari commercial chief Enrico Galliera said a manual gearbox has been the number one request from the firm’s client base in recent years. Describing the Manuale as a car that “brings incredible performance and incredible emotion”, he said Ferrari had waited until it could offer something not just rewarding but also innovative and “without compromise”.
View Price on AmazonThe innovation refers to the most unconventional element of the new Manuale: it has no linkage between the gearlever and the gearbox slung across the back axle. Indeed, the car is homologated as an automatic. But while the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission of the regular 12Cilindri is retained, here it can be controlled by-wire through inputs the driver makes with the clutch pedal and gearlever.
The potential genius of the system is that the position of the clutch pedal informs the level of engagement of the clutch packs in the gearbox. It means the system is able to replicate everything from languid clutch-riding, if you are babying the 819 horsepower 12Cilindri Manuale off the mark, to brutal clutch-kicking to initiate slides. It is even possible to stall the car, though authenticity is not pursued to the extent that the system will accept an errant downshift – the driver cannot send valvetrain shards to the heavens by inadvertently slotting first instead of third.
The action of the clutch pedal is the result of an intricate series of rollers, rockers and bearings working with a stout spring. This mechanism defines the all-important feel of the pedal action and has been the subject of painstaking development. There is then a separate link that connects the arm of the pedal to a sensor that relays its position, in turn informing the engagement of the clutch packs inside the gearbox proper, all in an instant and with millimetric precision.
As a result, a clean upshift or deftly rev-matched downshift should reward the driver and clumsy use of the system will do the opposite. Ferrari says it is not possible for the driver to damage the gearbox. The entire system weighs only 11 pounds. Gas nitriding on steel is used in places in the mechanism where wear resistance is critical in retaining a tight feel and minimal play throughout the car’s life, and aluminum is employed elsewhere.
Source: autocar.co.uk
