Videos of Super Sport Shrifter in action

[Steve Chryssos]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNYgtRGGHns

....And here is the in "back seat" footage that didn't make it into the commercial because of camera shake. The car, originally built by Shay Campbell, is now radically different under the skin. It has a 21st Century front clip, one off RaceTek torque arm rear suspension, C5 brakes, Bilsteins, Fikse wheels, all aluminum F.I. 18 degree 400, 4L80E with one of my new MuscleDrive torque converters and a Fab9 rear with 3.50 gears. Enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJQwaMIjKSk

[Steve68]

Cool vid, F'n great music too, you punk rocker


Saw a shirt that says "everyone needs a little Social D" I kinda modded it bit, "everone needs a little Jonny and DeeDee"!

[Steve Chryssos]

Where would hot rodding be without rock n roll? :woot:

[Mikael A]

You boys in Hampton's are hawing way to much fun:lol:

mike a

[Jr]

Steve,
The shifts looked fast! Great job :thumbsup:

[Steve68]

Rock and Roll radio!

[ubervic]

Probably a lot of fun to drive around on the street with, but seems like the delay might keep it from being a good road course option.

[68protouring454]

Probably a lot of fun to drive around on the street with, but seems like the delay might keep it from being a good road course option.
why do you say?

[ubervic]

I'm not bagging on it - I'd love to have it in a street car. I guess I should have made that a question rather than a statement, because I was looking for more input in that regard.

on edit:

Looking at the video again, one of the upshifts happens when he's in the gas, the engine continues to rev and there's a slight pause between triggering the shift and when the shift actually happens. It seems this wouldn't be ideal on a road course in a race or HPDE.

I'll rephrase my previous statement as a question. Seeing as there's a slight pause on upshift, and I'd assume downshift, does anyone think the pause might cause some issues in an on-track environment? Does anyone have any experience using such a system in a HPDE?

[Steve Chryssos]

The slight pause is inherent to the 4L80E design on the 2-3 shift. Shift time varies with throttle angle, gear, and most importantly--calibration. It is possible to firm up the gear changes, but certain load scenarios simply do not call for lightening quick shifts. In reality, that slight pause is about equivalent to the amount of time it takes to push in a clutch, move a lever and let go of the clutch pedal. But when it comes to paddle shifters, people have unrealistic expectations. They expect every paddle shifted gear change to be a slam dunk. Not the case.

It's like parallel parking an SMG. People expect the process to be silky smooth because it is run by a computer, but could they do better manually--not necessarily.

[ubervic]

How well does it handle downshifts?

I'd love to see some in-car footage going around a race track. Doesn't even have to be anything close to 10/10ths driving.

[Steve Chryssos]

Yeah, 10/10ths and shiny paint do not go together well. :drive: But 8/10ths is plenty fun. The manumatic is decidedly different than a manual. It takes some getting used to, but it is still plenty fast as the video shows. At present, you downshift to solely to select the proper gear for corner exit--not to slow the car down. In automatic mode, the computer hunts under these circumstances. It doesn't know if you are about to power out of a corner or stop for a school bus. It gets confused. With the manumatic, you tap down to select the proper gear for corner exit and when you get back in the throttle, it's in that gear. It doesn't think about it or hunt--second gear is second gear.

The new MuscleDrive converters have beefy lock up clutches that will maintain direct drive to emulate a manual. We'll soon find out how well they work. I have a race in July, but I'll post street video as soon as possible.
Thank you for your interest.

[tyoneal]

Steve:

Thanks for posting the two new videos.

I really like what you are doing with the Shrifter. There very well may be one in my future.

Ty

[ubervic]

Where this really may be beneficial, as far as competition driving goes, is in autocross. Continuous power is very important because of the fast transitions - lifting the throttle to shift can upset the car's balance. There are several nationally competitive cars that run automatic transmissions with manual valve bodies. A swap to an electronic transmission with one of these shifters could be pretty trick as your hands would never have to leave the wheel to make a shift. Something to think about.