Beyond the ease of use from a driver 's standpoint, an additional benefit of sequential manual gearboxes is that use of the clutch via foot pedal or hand control can be minimized or completely obviated, with the clutch used only for starting from a complete stop. Formula One cars of the 1990s made the most high - profile debut of this technology in motor sports, and enhanced variations on this theme are still in use in many forms of road racing and drag racing today. The simple push - pull action of the shift mechanism also lends itself to semi-automatic control using either hydraulic or pneumatic actuators -- a system often referred to as paddle - shift. Instead of a manual gear lever, the driver is provided with (usually) a pair of flipper paddles on the steering wheel, rally cars often utilize just a double - acting single paddle. Pulling on the right - hand paddle makes an up - shift and pulling on the left - hand paddle makes a down - shift. The paddle - shift system will use a sophisticated electronic control unit to provide the necessary logic to operate the shift mechanism. This type of paddle - shift system fitted to race and rally cars should not be confused with most of the current crop of paddle - shift systems fitted to some high - end road cars. These systems often use a dual - clutch transmission or a conventional torque converter automatic transmission which allow driver input to select the gears.
what kind of gearbox do rally cars use
sequential manual gearboxes