The violent impact each gear shift produces when gears are engaged on such small pieces of metal at such high RPM is unfathomable! Thanks for the vid, it makes me truly appreciate the sophistication of F1 engineering.
@@MrWarhead16 As you increase the number of dog "teeth" you require less in the way of synchronisation; as this is also a sequential gearbox, the need for synchronisation is reduced. Another method is the piston which moves the gear selection shaft (which in turn moves the drive dogs) has electronics to synchronise the shifting of the dog at just the right time. "Consumer grade" manual H-pattern gearboxes usually have just three drive dogs, hence the need for synchromesh systems and rev matching. Modern sequential gearboxes now engage both the current with the next gear pre-selected. Manual pre-selector gearboxes used to be a thing on old Volvo's (change gear, then push in the clutch, release the clutch, and "bingo" the gear is selected. Fun fact. At Monaco, a Red-Bull engineer was looking at the Super Aguri car when his eyebrows went up and he asked "How in the hell have you got our gearbox?!" (At the time, Red Bull was one of the few teams with seamless shift and the SA gearbox was identical!) Aguri san was not phased at all. He replies "Actually, you have ours." This was technically true. The gearbox run by SA was the first seamless gearbox on the grid when it was originally in an Orange Arrows. SA bought the entire OA equipment and intellectual property. However, the gearbox was also licensed by Red Bull (well the original team did) when OA folded. I loved the access I had in those years.
That is what I was thinking. I've just rebuilt two 1998 Yamaha R1 engines. Straight cut gears, no synchro. Plus I like the way the selector forks sit over the selector drum in this video, Very tidy.
Surprisingly F1 parts are so much better to learn the basics of how car components work because even though so much goes into them they’re very simple. They’re straight to the point instead of adding fancy things for reliability and comfort that production cars need
It took me like 3 other animation videos to understand how manual transmissions work and I was stll left with some gaps of uncertainty. This video did all that in a single take and cleared up any remaining uncertainty.
For me, this (5:20) is the most amazing piece of the car. It’s almost inconceivable that this relatively tiny set of gears can survive the stresses of an F1 car. Much more so than the engine, suspension or even tires, this seems almost magically durable. Thank you so much for this!
Peter Yianilos plus as he said, the gearbox housing is the mounting point for the rear suspension. The rear wing also mounts to the transmission or maybe the diff. So you not only have the the internal stresses of the engine's output, but those external stresses. All of it made as light as absolutely possible.
Thank you for this video! So, the selector shaft and shift forks are a "simple" cam-and-lobe type setup. Brilliant. This unintentionally demonstrated exactly why sequential gearboxes are sequential and why they can't skip gears like an automatic or true manual. This was super informative, and again, thank you!
Im always amazed at how small the actual components are considering how much load is being put through them. You would think those tiny splines and dogs would never be able to deal with the forces at play there.
@@MrSutekii I design rocket components for a living, so this is nothing :) my fasteners take 300,000 lbf each. And I have three hundred of them ;) with the right metallurgy and materials used, those splines are plenty strong.
Love this video, it's helped me so much while building my own 3D printed F1 gearbox. You can only stare at so many pictures, being able to watch you disassemble the gear stacks helped so much.
Brings back memories, I worked on the gearbox and traction control unit for the 193 and 194. Shift times were 10 to 25ms as I recall, coordinated with a momentary ignition cut using the same interface to the engine management as the traction control. It would automatically retry shifts if the dogs hit face-to-face as happened occasionally and inhibit shifts that would over-rev the engine. TC and over-rev protection banned in '94, the FIA came in to audit our software. Happy days but extremely hard work!
Can you “guess” a little how modern seamless shifting works? Is it done by two output shafts like a DCT? Or as someone said, just try overlapping the two sequential gears 1~2ms and make the shaft absorb the twisting torque?
For me it seems very similar to a production car, minus the synchro rings. This example is really a good one because it's actually cleaner and more simple than a gearbox from a road car : no reverse, just two shafts and two sets of gears, the shifting mecanism is also beautiful by its simplicity (vs the complex forks on a H pattern shifter). I just wonder how it manages to shift smoothly, even if it's not the main concern for a F1 it's still important for reliability and predictability, but I guess it works perfectly ! Thanks for the video
Production car gears are much longer and aren’t straight cut. They’re helical gears, to minimise noise and make the power delivery smoother. Also a lot heavier as you can imagine.
In a production car you can select any gear, these are sequential boxes so if you want 6th gear you have to go through the other five. I've watched a friend who would go from 1st to 2nd and then to 5th in a production car.
I am trained to AMIMI level, and this is one of the best explanation of how a gearbox works I have seen. first time I have seen the layshaft being driven rather than a separate mainshaft, good idea, one less shaft/bearing combination to worry about. Good job!
Great to see real hands-on work! Oh, and I am GREATLY appreciating the calm guitar music. All too often people think that it´s cooler to have some energetic modern music on max volume. For me (an old geezer ) tech nerd this is perfect - very well done mate!
What a gem of a channel I've found! Having rebuilt my own cars' gearboxes in my youth, great seeing inside a sequential gearbox and its use of spur gears over helical on a road car - and of course no synchromesh.
I really appreciate these kind of video's! I've always searched for content on youtube that explains the way a car(and it's parts) work. This was for sure one of the best video's I've watched about this kind of stuff. A big thankyou for that, and sorry if my English isn't that great (:
Hi, mind a normal car gearbox is much different than this. This is essentially a motorbike gearbox but modified for racing, very similar to the Kawasaki H2R gearbox
These videos are amazing. The engineering that goes into this really is exciting and mind-blowing. Just the gearbox appears simple but it is so complex as the accuracy and quality that goes into it. These F1 engineers are truly masters of their craft.
This is a sequential, constant-mesh box which is exactly the same as you would find on a motorbike. It's also one of the most simple, straightforward designs for a gearbox you can find.
I believe that what you call a layshaft is, in fact, the input shaft. A layshaft is defined as: A layshaft is an intermediate shaft within a gearbox that carries gears but does not transfer the primary drive of the gearbox either in or out of the gearbox. A layshaft in a car is used almost the same, but the input and output shafts are in line. The power is transferred with an extra gearwheel from the input shaft to the layshaft. The principle of this gearbox is very much like a motorcycle gearbox: straight gears and dogs. Motorcycles also have a separate input and output shaft, but on most the moving parts are on both shaft. But a really nice video!
Yep, that's the input shaft. A layshaft is also called a counter-shaft in some manuals. Straight spur gears like that are louder but stronger than helical gears, which is why one is used in motorcycles and race cars and the other is used in passenger cars.
It's actually interesting to consider that on a mechanical complexity level this F1 gearbox is very simple and is more comparable to a car gearbox from the 50s. A "modern" car transmission would be far more complex with synchronization, over-speed lockouts, double synchronized gears, synchronized reverse etc.
@@immikeurnot - Helical gears themselves are actually stronger than spur gears but they produce thrust loads requiring more robust case designs/components which are therefore heavier and larger
Well done. I still remember for those who had the money in the lesser classes, they had the gears on wooden boards with pegs, the boxes were often done rapidly during or after practice, or you had charts that told you the best ratios for a given track. As a mechanic, you had to recognize the worn dogs on the gears.
5:00 I didn't know that F1 gearboxes had such a cassette system for taking the gears out of the gearbox. Sure makes replacing the gears a lot simpler than fidling with the parts inside the housing. The fasteners that hold the cassette on place were also surprisingly little considering how much power F1 cars have and when you have wheel hop with those sticky tires, the forces the gearbox sees are insane.
It's amazing that the most sophisticated and advanced racecars, and vehicles for that matter, have the most simple mechanics that work together perfectly
Never knew what happens in a gear box. Your very clear, step by step explanation- I understood it. Thank you. In 1950s went to watch F1 -and continue to watch it now . Looking forward to your next lesson. Pat the Dragon
A motorcycle transmission like on a GSXR 1000, for the most part, works and looks the same. The shift drum on the F1 is a good bit nicer. Very nice thanks for posting this.
That is one incredibly engineered gearbox. Be a fan i see and know how many times per second those gears shift up and down down down and complete the turn and in a split second its changing gear to the next and so on etc. It is so amazing and i really appreciate you taking your time to help us fans of formula 1 🏎 better understand and get a great look at the gearbox. Thank you my friend.
Like the precision of the machining of all those gears. And yes,just like when we move the lever on a bike only this one is obviously powered pneumatically or hydraullicaly. But the best thing is how it's all so simple and in the same time high-tech complicated. Simple yes,but then you add the pneumatics and the ECUs and all. Just love it man. F1 is the only sticker album i completed as a kid.
Absolutely excellent vid dude. Explaining with the real thing in front of you. Beats any number of diagrams and words hands down. Cheers. Keep up the good work.
The design of the drive ring, dogs, mating dog in gear, and shift fork is awesome. Very highly optimized when compared to say sequential motorcycle transmissions. I have rebuild many motor cross bike engines...so I was really curious to see the design of the drive and dog mechanisms. Thanks for showing.
Was watching a F1 race at the Nürburring 1997 and was surprised how insanely loud the shifting of the cars was. You didn't hear that on Tv at all. It was a massive bang every time they shifted.
As mechanical engineer i know those gears are thick enough to last "X" hours/cycles for a give "Y" Stress (loads) while saving weight, but i still get anxious and nervous when i see gears that much thin compared to normal automotive gears. Loved the video, cheers.
This is just a great explanation of the shift mechanism in any manual transmission even..obviously road cars use syncros and a countershaft too but same idea.
@@bacburrito4225 iirc 1986 was the final season before boost was limited to 4 bar. Ie the most powerful F1 engines ever were likely the 1986 quali engines. I think BWM and Honda were rumored to be 1400 hp.
Some good info' in the video - and a lot of 'less good' in the comments. You may have noticed a shaft coming out the back of the gearbox, near the bottom - that is a starter shaft - an external strater is engaded there to start the engine. The input shaft isn't connected 'directly' to the engine, but via a clutch assembly about the size of a large man's fist - worth a separate story just on the clutches, perhaps? most performance and race gearboxes are gas operated, but the speed demands of F1 means that is too slow and hydraulics are used. That isn't a layshaft, it is an input shaft. Some of you who have some experience in race gearboxes may have noticed that the input gears are machined as part of the shaft, rather than splined on - this is because F1 gear ratios are fixed (one change allowed mid year, if that still applies) and it is stronger and lighter to build them that way.
wow, really impressive not only the video itself and your absolute clean explanation, but even more the beautiful piece of engineering of this F1 gearbox. I did not know how it is working, now it is clearer. Many thanks!
I love this video. Amazing that the carbon fiber tub is all that is bolted to the engine forming its frame. I would have thought that torque put into the tub would twist it like crazy.
They have neutral and a crew to service the car, that crew can push the car backwards. Reverse is a waste of space and materials in a vehicle that is built to only go one direction 99.99% of its life.
@@oldleatherhandsfriends4053 Thats not the case anymore. Todays F1 cars do have a reverse gear and you better use it because If you need someone elses push to get out of a deadlock, your race is over.
@@Chuckiele interestingly, modern F1 cars shouldn't necessarily need a reverse gear, they could pull the clutch and reverse the polarity of the electric motor. Of course that would only be the case if the motor is after the clutch, which, after reading the technical regulations, turns out to be illegal. I tell you, the engine regs fucking suck, they leave almost 0 room for imagination. And it's not like they do it to keep "road relevance", variable geometry turbos, twin scroll turbos, VVT and VVL are all very common among modern roadcars, yet they are forbidden by the FIA. The regs are so tight that they might as well make the entire PU a standard component, I could write a massive paragraph explaining why having such tight regulations is stupid but it's late and I'm tired, maybe tomorrow. Here are said regs btw, I'm linking the 2022 ones because the PU will remain mostly unchanged and they show were the future is headed www.fia.com/regulation/category/110
@@jorge8596 They had to add so many regulations because things kept escalating and now they have to slowely remove them again. The aero cleanup is a good start already, finally undoing the ground effect ban but back then there was no way around it.
@@jorge8596 it is a huge mistake to prevent the worlds foremost technological motorsport form experimenting with different technical solutions! evolving new technology should be one of the primary aims of formula one
A bit late to this one, this was fascinating--I've always known what a gearbox *does* but I've never seen such a clear explanation of how everything fits together and how the entire transmission works in action. Really great stuff.
An F1 nerd's wet dream opening up one of these. Wondering why the gears are paired? Ie 3 and 4 appear together, 5 and 6, except 2nd, which is on its own. Also, how do they change ratios for different circuits? Eg, 1st and 2nd in Monaco may have different ratios for Monza.
It's a cassette style transmission, the whole thing just swaps over for another one with different gears installed on it, similar to my turbo bike th-cam.com/video/L0mtwcaoXDo/w-d-xo.html
I’ve worked on many formula car gearboxes in my previous employment. The reason the gears are “paired” as you say on the shaft is because the shafts are only supported by bearings on the ends so you want your highest loaded gears closest to the ends of the shafts where there is support. 1st and 2nd gears are next to each other on one end of the shaft and then you switch to the other end of the shaft for 3rd and 4th. As you shift gears higher there is less torque produced so there is less spreading force between the gears. If you placed 1st gear right in the middle of the shaft the spreading forces because of the amount of torque involved will flex/bend the shafts. By putting the higher loaded gears at the ends of the shafts you are putting them where the shafts have the most support from the bearings. That is the only reason the gears skip around on the shaft. The groove in the barrel that moves the shift forks through the shift pins is machined to operate in this order.
That gear selector shaft, I don’t know what else to call it, is a genius piece of work! Once they figured out that a little compressed air could do the work for them! I miss the days of Senna and Berger when one hand was always busy shifting the gearbox and the footwork was like the best dancer on earth.
@@ToomSugi They also aren't designed for tens of thousands of miles without repair like a consumer vehicle is. F1 cars will get their transmission changed multiple times per season. They can afford to withstand some extra abuse in the name of pure performance. On the flip side, I think it is amazing the kind of endurance that road cars have.
I know I am late to the game but this is an excellent explanation of a sequential gearbox and the transmission looks a lot like the one in the 1994 Tyrrell.
Billet CNCed components. Huge amounts of money and over engineering. Pure efficiency for its time. and a virtually no loss in drivetrain. You have the direct splines coming off engine into the gearbox. Theres very little components in between that get loaded with torque to be a failing point. Engine aside, you also have tuning. The torque curve would be suited to the equipment.
Its fascinating that you expect to see something really complicated and extravagant but in the end as we engineers says "the simpler the better". That gearbox its much more simpler than a manual car's.
It's absolutely insane that all of the force of those engines gets put through that one single input shaft... Those tiny splines are the only things preventing that shaft from spinning freely... So much force on such a small amount of metal..... Likewise, the wheels are held on by tiny threads.... Massive forces back and forth and up and down and in and out constantly throughout the race, and those little threads and tiny splines are driving it all and holding it all together...
Being in the gearbox trade when I was 18 I striped out many gearbox's the best engineered one being the Rover 3500. The F1 is much like a motorcycle with straight cut gears to deliver more power. But oh so simple and straightforward not as complex as I taught
So basically the change cylinder rotates the selector one seventh of a rotation in one way to shift up and rotates to the opposite way to shift down. To me this gearbox is easier to understand than a common manual gearbox, great video.
Fascinating, many thanks. Been driving cars for years but never really know what the inside of a gear box looks like. Love this video and looking forward to more.
Thank you Scot, I have repaired my gearbox of a Cagiva 1000cc motorbike, the knuckels on the side of a view gears we worn off. Replaced the parts put it together with the suzuki shopmanuel and it worked. But never figured out exacly how it worked.
The violent impact each gear shift produces when gears are engaged on such small pieces of metal at such high RPM is unfathomable! Thanks for the vid, it makes me truly appreciate the sophistication of F1 engineering.
My thoughts too. I thought they have synchronizers attached on these
@@MrWarhead16 As you increase the number of dog "teeth" you require less in the way of synchronisation; as this is also a sequential gearbox, the need for synchronisation is reduced.
Another method is the piston which moves the gear selection shaft (which in turn moves the drive dogs) has electronics to synchronise the shifting of the dog at just the right time.
"Consumer grade" manual H-pattern gearboxes usually have just three drive dogs, hence the need for synchromesh systems and rev matching.
Modern sequential gearboxes now engage both the current with the next gear pre-selected. Manual pre-selector gearboxes used to be a thing on old Volvo's (change gear, then push in the clutch, release the clutch, and "bingo" the gear is selected.
Fun fact. At Monaco, a Red-Bull engineer was looking at the Super Aguri car when his eyebrows went up and he asked "How in the hell have you got our gearbox?!" (At the time, Red Bull was one of the few teams with seamless shift and the SA gearbox was identical!)
Aguri san was not phased at all. He replies "Actually, you have ours." This was technically true. The gearbox run by SA was the first seamless gearbox on the grid when it was originally in an Orange Arrows. SA bought the entire OA equipment and intellectual property. However, the gearbox was also licensed by Red Bull (well the original team did) when OA folded.
I loved the access I had in those years.
as a home bike mechanic, it's fascinating to see the similarities and differences in our drivetrains ! thanks !
That is what I was thinking. I've just rebuilt two 1998 Yamaha R1 engines. Straight cut gears, no synchro. Plus I like the way the selector forks sit over the selector drum in this video, Very tidy.
The first time ever I understand throughly how gearbox works, and it's from F1 car! Bloody brilliant stuff!
Surprisingly F1 parts are so much better to learn the basics of how car components work because even though so much goes into them they’re very simple. They’re straight to the point instead of adding fancy things for reliability and comfort that production cars need
same.. I'm really surprised that I understood this video.
Ah, so the the gear sits on a bearing and it's the dogring that enables power transfer by engaging with it!
Cool vid👍
It took me like 3 other animation videos to understand how manual transmissions work and I was stll left with some gaps of uncertainty. This video did all that in a single take and cleared up any remaining uncertainty.
@@neurofiedyamato8763 this really isn't about general manual transmission, it's sequential manual gearbox.
its amazing and beautiful how smooth these parts operate even when one end of each shaft isnt supported, the precision machining is perfect
Both shafts are supported on both ends via roller bearing.
@@borutgoli840 ...the OP was referring to the setup, that was being demonstrated on this video..
For me, this (5:20) is the most amazing piece of the car. It’s almost inconceivable that this relatively tiny set of gears can survive the stresses of an F1 car. Much more so than the engine, suspension or even tires, this seems almost magically durable. Thank you so much for this!
Well, the pistons have a lovely time.
Peter Yianilos plus as he said, the gearbox housing is the mounting point for the rear suspension. The rear wing also mounts to the transmission or maybe the diff. So you not only have the the internal stresses of the engine's output, but those external stresses. All of it made as light as absolutely possible.
7-800 hp through that?
unbelievable.
Also at 4:14 he is describing a great bit of the gearbox.
@@axeman2638 Those gears are not made out of cheap steel.
This is so beautiful to look at. Actually amazing how simple the mechanism works and yet so smooth
Hi! Nothing beats the real thing. Thank you for showing us this kind of stuff!
Thank you for this video! So, the selector shaft and shift forks are a "simple" cam-and-lobe type setup. Brilliant. This unintentionally demonstrated exactly why sequential gearboxes are sequential and why they can't skip gears like an automatic or true manual. This was super informative, and again, thank you!
Lo llevan usando las motocicletas desde hace 80 años...
The most soothing gearbox removal I've ever seen
So true XD if all cars gearboxes were done like that
The beauty of a cassette gearbox
Before opening the video i thought i wouldn't understand a thing but it was really well explained and i got everything. Really good job.
Im always amazed at how small the actual components are considering how much load is being put through them.
You would think those tiny splines and dogs would never be able to deal with the forces at play there.
The torque of these motors is not super high
Small but sure are made from some witchcraft material lol. And smaller parts should translate to less twisting I suppose
I remember an F1 driver (I think DC) describing the crank shaft as being like a coat hanger bent into shape.
@@Shadowboost not crazy high torque, but consider the load these goes through, especially with those big grippy wheels
@@MrSutekii I design rocket components for a living, so this is nothing :) my fasteners take 300,000 lbf each. And I have three hundred of them ;) with the right metallurgy and materials used, those splines are plenty strong.
Love this video, it's helped me so much while building my own 3D printed F1 gearbox. You can only stare at so many pictures, being able to watch you disassemble the gear stacks helped so much.
sheesh good luck man sounds like a project for sure
Brings back memories, I worked on the gearbox and traction control unit for the 193 and 194. Shift times were 10 to 25ms as I recall, coordinated with a momentary ignition cut using the same interface to the engine management as the traction control. It would automatically retry shifts if the dogs hit face-to-face as happened occasionally and inhibit shifts that would over-rev the engine. TC and over-rev protection banned in '94, the FIA came in to audit our software. Happy days but extremely hard work!
Can you “guess” a little how modern seamless shifting works? Is it done by two output shafts like a DCT? Or as someone said, just try overlapping the two sequential gears 1~2ms and make the shaft absorb the twisting torque?
i was waiting for forever to see how a gearbox actually grip gears together, thank you so much for this amazing video !
For me it seems very similar to a production car, minus the synchro rings. This example is really a good one because it's actually cleaner and more simple than a gearbox from a road car : no reverse, just two shafts and two sets of gears, the shifting mecanism is also beautiful by its simplicity (vs the complex forks on a H pattern shifter).
I just wonder how it manages to shift smoothly, even if it's not the main concern for a F1 it's still important for reliability and predictability, but I guess it works perfectly !
Thanks for the video
Production car gears are much longer and aren’t straight cut. They’re helical gears, to minimise noise and make the power delivery smoother. Also a lot heavier as you can imagine.
It actually has reverse gear
How it manages to shift smoothly? Its not smooth. Its violent. The gears are just pushed in by the pneumatic cylinder. And I think its beautiful
In a production car you can select any gear, these are sequential boxes so if you want 6th gear you have to go through the other five. I've watched a friend who would go from 1st to 2nd and then to 5th in a production car.
Motorcycle tech... 80 years ago
I am trained to AMIMI level, and this is one of the best explanation of how a gearbox works I have seen. first time I have seen the layshaft being driven rather than a separate mainshaft, good idea, one less shaft/bearing combination to worry about. Good job!
Great explanation! New subscriber here. More F1 tech please.
Shut up
@@roberts2231 raikkonen energy
Oh yes! Awesome channel here. He has tons of stolen equipment. 😜
@@roberts2231 lmao salty boi
@Khalid Gibson Shut up, no one cares
3:09 best ad placement ever
“… you can see here that …”
“LIKE A GOOD NEIGHBOR, STATE FARM IS THERE!”
Great to see real hands-on work!
Oh, and I am GREATLY appreciating the calm guitar music. All too often people think that it´s cooler to have some energetic modern music on max volume. For me (an old geezer ) tech nerd this is perfect - very well done mate!
Things like this should be on Netflix or tv. Man I love this. 😍
no it should not be, its better here. netflix and tv is trash.
Would be interesting to see more about the diff
Here it goes
th-cam.com/video/yYAw79386WI/w-d-xo.html
Hi Mr Crab if I’m not mistaken there is no differential action on this particular car!
Maybe the diff is further down the drive train?
What a gem of a channel I've found! Having rebuilt my own cars' gearboxes in my youth, great seeing inside a sequential gearbox and its use of spur gears over helical on a road car - and of course no synchromesh.
I really appreciate these kind of video's! I've always searched for content on youtube that explains the way a car(and it's parts) work. This was for sure one of the best video's I've watched about this kind of stuff. A big thankyou for that, and sorry if my English isn't that great (:
Timo Wilms I can’t see any language errors. That’s better than 90% of comments written by native speakers of English.
@@mosca3289 thanks!
Hi, mind a normal car gearbox is much different than this. This is essentially a motorbike gearbox but modified for racing, very similar to the Kawasaki H2R gearbox
Oh and I'm not saying that F1 copied that from the bikes. Cheers
It was so reassuring to know how actually the gears engage, thanks.
Very similar to a motorcycle gearbox, except it's about 2x the size so it can handle 10x the power.
Those gears are smaller than my goldwings.
Agree, look the shifting gear between lay and main Shaft, no synchromesh there.
OldLeatherHands&Friends weight concessions and shorter time between overhauling allows the smaller components ....
@@fauzimachamili1691 Yes, no synchromesh. Only dog clutches, and straight-cut spur gears, rather than helical-cut gears.
Synchromesh slows the gear shift time. With revs matched a simple dog engagement is much faster shifting. It also allows clutchless up shifts.
These videos are amazing. The engineering that goes into this really is exciting and mind-blowing. Just the gearbox appears simple but it is so complex as the accuracy and quality that goes into it. These F1 engineers are truly masters of their craft.
Great explanation of a sequential gearbox. It explains why my motorbike can't skip a gear when shifting, since it has a sequential as well, right?
Correct!
And at the right rev you dont need clutch as well ... this thing is exactly the same as the motorcylce one@@Driver61
At the right rev NO gearbox needs clutch
This is a sequential, constant-mesh box which is exactly the same as you would find on a motorbike. It's also one of the most simple, straightforward designs for a gearbox you can find.
@@Stoney3K Same selection system yeah, but don't bike gearboxes have synchros? (genuine question no bitchy crap)
I believe that what you call a layshaft is, in fact, the input shaft. A layshaft is defined as:
A layshaft is an intermediate shaft within a gearbox that carries gears but does not transfer the primary drive of the gearbox either in or out of the gearbox.
A layshaft in a car is used almost the same, but the input and output shafts are in line. The power is transferred with an extra gearwheel from the input shaft to the layshaft.
The principle of this gearbox is very much like a motorcycle gearbox: straight gears and dogs.
Motorcycles also have a separate input and output shaft, but on most the moving parts are on both shaft.
But a really nice video!
Yep, that's the input shaft. A layshaft is also called a counter-shaft in some manuals.
Straight spur gears like that are louder but stronger than helical gears, which is why one is used in motorcycles and race cars and the other is used in passenger cars.
It's actually interesting to consider that on a mechanical complexity level this F1 gearbox is very simple and is more comparable to a car gearbox from the 50s. A "modern" car transmission would be far more complex with synchronization, over-speed lockouts, double synchronized gears, synchronized reverse etc.
@@immikeurnot - Helical gears themselves are actually stronger than spur gears but they produce thrust loads requiring more robust case designs/components which are therefore heavier and larger
6:56 am more curious on the integrated barrel and fork slider's mechanism!!
Well done. I still remember for those who had the money in the lesser classes, they had the gears on wooden boards with pegs, the boxes were often done rapidly during or after practice, or you had charts that told you the best ratios for a given track. As a mechanic, you had to recognize the worn dogs on the gears.
5:00 I didn't know that F1 gearboxes had such a cassette system for taking the gears out of the gearbox. Sure makes replacing the gears a lot simpler than fidling with the parts inside the housing.
The fasteners that hold the cassette on place were also surprisingly little considering how much power F1 cars have and when you have wheel hop with those sticky tires, the forces the gearbox sees are insane.
It's amazing that the most sophisticated and advanced racecars, and vehicles for that matter, have the most simple mechanics that work together perfectly
4:13 deeznutz
Can't believe I missed that
Was searching for this comment
@@laddaevolta if you look closely.. Deeznutz
Glad someone else saw that 😂
Boffa deez nuts
Never knew what happens in a gear box. Your very clear, step by step explanation- I understood it. Thank you. In 1950s went to watch
F1 -and continue to watch it now . Looking forward to your next lesson. Pat the Dragon
*has a gearbox with perfect little wells to fit a ratchet*
*used a wrench anyways*
exactly :D
First thing I noticed. The Snap-on man hasn`t been yet? :)
when you post your video of the workings of something like this, make sure you use your ratchet then, ok?
@@timmaaynoob2975 fucktard
britts..
great explanation of the dog drive via main shaft. slick shift, no synchronizer here. Brilliant machine design.
A motorcycle transmission like on a GSXR 1000, for the most part, works and looks the same. The shift drum on the F1 is a good bit nicer. Very nice thanks for posting this.
Yep ! Years ago I noticed the same thing. Did F1 learn from the Super Bikes, or the other way around ?
@@lroy730 Since bikes have had sequential boxes like this since the year dot, F1 took the idea from bikes.
@@stupidlogic2987 from 80 years ago Motorcycle tech.
That is one incredibly engineered gearbox. Be a fan i see and know how many times per second those gears shift up and down down down and complete the turn and in a split second its changing gear to the next and so on etc. It is so amazing and i really appreciate you taking your time to help us fans of formula 1 🏎 better understand and get a great look at the gearbox. Thank you my friend.
4:14 Ha! Got ‘eem
Deez nutz
as soon as i heard this nuts i went into the comments, i am not disappointed!
Why this not have more comments?
I laughed out loud!!! (oooops...I meant I LOL'ed)
@@gabeteuton I did the same thing and you're one of the first comments I've read lol
This is by far the best gearbox explanation on youtube.
4:13 got em'
lol was wondering if anyone else heard
My mind was wandering the entire video EXCEPT for that exact moment in time
Like the precision of the machining of all those gears. And yes,just like when we move the lever on a bike only this one is obviously powered pneumatically or hydraullicaly. But the best thing is how it's all so simple and in the same time high-tech complicated. Simple yes,but then you add the pneumatics and the ECUs and all. Just love it man. F1 is the only sticker album i completed as a kid.
Absolutely excellent vid dude. Explaining with the real thing in front of you. Beats any number of diagrams and words hands down. Cheers. Keep up the good work.
This is exactly the level of detail I’ve been looking for, thank you!
GREAT video dude! Since you're there, I've always wondered about the tiny F1 clutch and pressure plate assembly!
Ok... I'll have a look at a clutch!
Look up Tilton or AP for an overview of what tiny racing clutches look like. They likely use a 4.5" multi-plate clutch.
Excellent description of the gearbox operation. The shifting mechanism reminds me of a motor cycle unit. Thank you for the video.
First video of yours I've ever seen and this is excellent honest content, subscribed.
The design of the drive ring, dogs, mating dog in gear, and shift fork is awesome. Very highly optimized when compared to say sequential motorcycle transmissions. I have rebuild many motor cross bike engines...so I was really curious to see the design of the drive and dog mechanisms. Thanks for showing.
Really good video! Explaination was spot on! Thanks for this!
Your videos are like oxygen for an enthusiast like me. Awesome job. Greetings and many thanks from Brazil .
WOW, Such a precise and clear explanation !!!! I feel like I can teach a class XD
Was watching a F1 race at the Nürburring 1997 and was surprised how insanely loud the shifting of the cars was. You didn't hear that on Tv at all. It was a massive bang every time they shifted.
Very well explained, thanks for sharing, and what a beautiful piece of engineering 👏🏻
how simple it works but how much effort needed to design this....superbly explained
This was bloody fantastic! Again!
As mechanical engineer i know those gears are thick enough to last "X" hours/cycles for a give "Y" Stress (loads) while saving weight, but i still get anxious and nervous when i see gears that much thin compared to normal automotive gears. Loved the video, cheers.
This was very interesting. Great video!
Thanks a lot for this Scott, I built/ rework gearboxes for a living but have long been curious about the internals of f1 gearboxes.
2:35 Two words, my friend: "ratchet spanners." 😉 😀
Currently designing a gearbox for my engineering project at uni and this was incredibly helpful! Love this channel!
I subscribed because of this. Make it even more in depth.
Thank you. I've wanted to understand how a gearbox works for a very long time. You explained it well. Good job!
That was awesome! I feel like I've learned something (actually, I know I have).
This is just a great explanation of the shift mechanism in any manual transmission even..obviously road cars use syncros and a countershaft too but same idea.
What I'd like to see would be a 1986 Benetton qualifying gearbox !
abcd efgh why not a 1987??
@@bacburrito4225 iirc 1986 was the final season before boost was limited to 4 bar. Ie the most powerful F1 engines ever were likely the 1986 quali engines. I think BWM and Honda were rumored to be 1400 hp.
This is incredible. So simple and effective, but a real work of engineering
4:14 Ha! Got em!
It is a gorgeous piece of machining. In the _gear pairs_ being constantly meshed, it also is just like a motorcycle gearbox from 50 years ago.
Some good info' in the video - and a lot of 'less good' in the comments.
You may have noticed a shaft coming out the back of the gearbox, near the bottom - that is a starter shaft - an external strater is engaded there to start the engine.
The input shaft isn't connected 'directly' to the engine, but via a clutch assembly about the size of a large man's fist - worth a separate story just on the clutches, perhaps?
most performance and race gearboxes are gas operated, but the speed demands of F1 means that is too slow and hydraulics are used.
That isn't a layshaft, it is an input shaft.
Some of you who have some experience in race gearboxes may have noticed that the input gears are machined as part of the shaft, rather than splined on - this is because F1 gear ratios are fixed (one change allowed mid year, if that still applies) and it is stronger and lighter to build them that way.
wow, really impressive not only the video itself and your absolute clean explanation, but even more the beautiful piece of engineering of this F1 gearbox. I did not know how it is working, now it is clearer. Many thanks!
My Friend: What's inside An F1 Gearbox?
Me: Gears
I love this video. Amazing that the carbon fiber tub is all that is bolted to the engine forming its frame. I would have thought that torque put into the tub would twist it like crazy.
When you popped the rear case off, I said "oh, look - there's reverse.... and it's gone."
No comment on reverse??
They have neutral and a crew to service the car, that crew can push the car backwards. Reverse is a waste of space and materials in a vehicle that is built to only go one direction 99.99% of its life.
@@oldleatherhandsfriends4053 Thats not the case anymore. Todays F1 cars do have a reverse gear and you better use it because If you need someone elses push to get out of a deadlock, your race is over.
@@Chuckiele interestingly, modern F1 cars shouldn't necessarily need a reverse gear, they could pull the clutch and reverse the polarity of the electric motor. Of course that would only be the case if the motor is after the clutch, which, after reading the technical regulations, turns out to be illegal. I tell you, the engine regs fucking suck, they leave almost 0 room for imagination. And it's not like they do it to keep "road relevance", variable geometry turbos, twin scroll turbos, VVT and VVL are all very common among modern roadcars, yet they are forbidden by the FIA. The regs are so tight that they might as well make the entire PU a standard component, I could write a massive paragraph explaining why having such tight regulations is stupid but it's late and I'm tired, maybe tomorrow. Here are said regs btw, I'm linking the 2022 ones because the PU will remain mostly unchanged and they show were the future is headed www.fia.com/regulation/category/110
@@jorge8596 They had to add so many regulations because things kept escalating and now they have to slowely remove them again. The aero cleanup is a good start already, finally undoing the ground effect ban but back then there was no way around it.
@@jorge8596 it is a huge mistake to prevent the worlds foremost technological motorsport form experimenting with different technical solutions! evolving new technology should be one of the primary aims of formula one
A bit late to this one, this was fascinating--I've always known what a gearbox *does* but I've never seen such a clear explanation of how everything fits together and how the entire transmission works in action. Really great stuff.
Bit late?
7:56 ineed for spiner replacement
best explanation of how a gearbox works i've seen
An F1 nerd's wet dream opening up one of these. Wondering why the gears are paired? Ie 3 and 4 appear together, 5 and 6, except 2nd, which is on its own. Also, how do they change ratios for different circuits? Eg, 1st and 2nd in Monaco may have different ratios for Monza.
The ends of the shafts have a retainer that keeps every thing in place. You remove these and change the stack of gears so to speak.
Lagibizar first is machined right into the main shaft on road cars
It's a cassette style transmission, the whole thing just swaps over for another one with different gears installed on it, similar to my turbo bike th-cam.com/video/L0mtwcaoXDo/w-d-xo.html
I’ve worked on many formula car gearboxes in my previous employment. The reason the gears are “paired” as you say on the shaft is because the shafts are only supported by bearings on the ends so you want your highest loaded gears closest to the ends of the shafts where there is support. 1st and 2nd gears are next to each other on one end of the shaft and then you switch to the other end of the shaft for 3rd and 4th. As you shift gears higher there is less torque produced so there is less spreading force between the gears. If you placed 1st gear right in the middle of the shaft the spreading forces because of the amount of torque involved will flex/bend the shafts. By putting the higher loaded gears at the ends of the shafts you are putting them where the shafts have the most support from the bearings. That is the only reason the gears skip around on the shaft. The groove in the barrel that moves the shift forks through the shift pins is machined to operate in this order.
@@taratownsley668 Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
That gear selector shaft, I don’t know what else to call it, is a genius piece of work! Once they figured out that a little compressed air could do the work for them! I miss the days of Senna and Berger when one hand was always busy shifting the gearbox and the footwork was like the best dancer on earth.
The distance of the dogteeth relative to each other is bigger than my life.
Beautifully explained! Made simple and easy to understand. Another reason I love F1. The engineering artistry!
No sync ring?
That was my first thought too.
Yes
@@EmmanuelLHPil no need for sync wheel, those side teeth has very large gap, they find themselves
@@ToomSugi They also aren't designed for tens of thousands of miles without repair like a consumer vehicle is. F1 cars will get their transmission changed multiple times per season. They can afford to withstand some extra abuse in the name of pure performance.
On the flip side, I think it is amazing the kind of endurance that road cars have.
@@tankerd1847 motorcycle gearboxes withstand long mileage, vfr 750 engines can do 150k miles+ with no gearbox problems
I know I am late to the game but this is an excellent explanation of a sequential gearbox and the transmission looks a lot like the one in the 1994 Tyrrell.
Just like millions of motorbike gearboxes
Talita Slabbert even the little Honda 90’s from the early 60’s. Whoever did this first was a genius. So simple but complex to make it all work.
Exactly what I thought... I have a cassette like that, maybe even better, in my race bike! Hah.
Amazing part for me is how it is able to handle so much power when it has such intricate light weight design, thanks for sharing 🏁
Billet CNCed components. Huge amounts of money and over engineering. Pure efficiency for its time. and a virtually no loss in drivetrain. You have the direct splines coming off engine into the gearbox. Theres very little components in between that get loaded with torque to be a failing point. Engine aside, you also have tuning. The torque curve would be suited to the equipment.
1:10 - "this is conected directly to the engine" - really? ?
what about the clutch?
F1 cars HAASn't got clutch
They have no clutch
How do they start then ? neutrall to 1st gear without clutch ?
@@mecabecane234 Oui !!! Exactly, from neutral to 1st you need either disconnection either engine starting in 1st.
They do have a clutch. Its an electronically controlled clutch
Dude, the more I learn about formula 1 the more I start to really appreciate motorcycles. Cuz pretty much all of this stuff is motorcycle tech
Very agree.
Im happy.
no surprise. you listen to electric house.
HI Scott, thanks for the detailed illustration! i iunderstand how the Gear + hub + dog ring work together! many thanks
No synchros ;p
Not needed, since in a constant mesh like this, the gears are always engaged.
First class explanation, first time Ive seen the gearbox explained
Its fascinating that you expect to see something really complicated and extravagant but in the end as we engineers says "the simpler the better". That gearbox its much more simpler than a manual car's.
That selector movement/mechanism is pretty cool tooo
It's absolutely insane that all of the force of those engines gets put through that one single input shaft...
Those tiny splines are the only things preventing that shaft from spinning freely... So much force on such a small amount of metal.....
Likewise, the wheels are held on by tiny threads.... Massive forces back and forth and up and down and in and out constantly throughout the race, and those little threads and tiny splines are driving it all and holding it all together...
What an insight on how a state of the art gearbox of a Grand Prix car works
Being in the gearbox trade when I was 18 I striped out many gearbox's the best engineered one being the Rover 3500. The F1 is much like a motorcycle with straight cut gears to deliver more power. But oh so simple and straightforward not as complex as I taught
So basically the change cylinder rotates the selector one seventh of a rotation in one way to shift up and rotates to the opposite way to shift down. To me this gearbox is easier to understand than a common manual gearbox, great video.
Fascinating, many thanks. Been driving cars for years but never really know what the inside of a gear box looks like. Love this video and looking forward to more.
Is wonderful how simply mechanisms create something complex, is poetry
Thank you Scot, I have repaired my gearbox of a Cagiva 1000cc motorbike, the knuckels on the side of a view gears we worn off. Replaced the parts put it together with the suzuki shopmanuel and it worked. But never figured out exacly how it worked.
Absolutely superb explanation