Most hot rods and race cars use transmissions with sequential gearboxes, which give drivers some important advantages. The sequential shift is quicker and more consistent; the shift motion is the same for every gear. And the sequential shift lever takes up less space because it only needs space for forward and backward motion; there is no left/right motion.

Nearly all race transmissions use the sequential shift approach. The drum is rotated manually by a lever, or it is rotated by solenoids, pneumatics or hydraulics activated electronically. In this case, the driver has a pair of switches on the wheel to control the mechanism and never has to take his hands off the steering wheel.

Because of the advantages of the sequential approach, this type of transmission is starting to appear on some high-end cars.

High Performance Sequential Transmissions

These sequential manual transmissions give the driver the ability to select the appropriate gear by pulling the shift lever back to select the next higher gear and pushing it forwards to select the next lower gear. The shift lever operates a ratchet mechanism converting the fore and aft motion into a rotary motion, which turns a selector drum with three or four tracks machined around its circumference. As the drum rotates, the selector forks in the tracks are positioned to select the right gear.

Sequential manual transmissions are true manual transmissions, and should not be confused with automatic transmissions that provide some degree of user shifting input. Working on these transmissions requires special training and experience. At Denver Transmission, we can perform a wide range of specialty transmission work based on the individual needs of our customers.