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Once, there were manual gearboxes and there were slushy autos.

Then came The Future: the paddleshift semi-auto. By Ben Miller

Semi-auto ’boxes

1989

1997

2004

2019

2009

1989 Ferrari sexes up the semi-auto

The 640, Ferrari’s 1989 F1 car, is both the first by

John Barnard and the first with a semi-auto gearbox

(specifically a robotised manual with paddleshift). With

no gearlever to package, the system allows Barnard to

design a narrower, lower-drag monocoque.

2004 BMW’s sledgehammer SMG

Interesting fact. Before the E46 M3 CSL, planet Earth

rotated about an axis tilted at 24.5°. But with the first

full-throttle, maximum-attack upshift from the car’s

SMG II semi-auto (the only transmission option on the

CSL), so brutal was the shift that Earth was knocked

onto the 23.5° at which it presently sits.

2019 Koenigsegg versus the gearbox

EVs don’t need multiple gears since e-motors make loads of

torque and can run at revs from zero to 18,000rpm. And with

performance cars becoming increasingly hybridised (Aston,

Ferrari, McLaren...) they may not need gearboxes for much

longer – Koenigsegg’s Regera doesn’t bother with one.

1997 Race on Sunday, sell on Monday

By the mid-’90s the semi-auto is ubiquitous in F1.

Ferrari celebrates with the F355 F1, with its electro-

hydraulic actuation of the standard car’s gearbox.

Ferrari subsequently goes twin-clutch with the F355’s

descendent, the supernaturally good 458 Italia.

1968 VW’s Autostick’s flop

Easy like an auto, involving like a manual – what’s not

to like about VW’s Autostick set-up, which married a

vacuum-operated auto clutch (activated by a button

on the gearstick) with a three-speed manual ’box? In

theory, nothing. Commercially – VW discovers – pretty

much everything. See also Chevy’s Torque Drive.

2009 PDK deigns to walk among us

Now up to eight ratios in the 992-generation 911 (and

hybrid-ready), PDK lands first in the 956 racer and

then 2009’s 997.2 911. While not lightning-quick at

first, it’s greased lightning compared with Tiptronic.

PDK is now so good

that it’s the sole option

on track Porsches like

the 911 GT3 RS and

Cayman GT4 racer.

1955 Citroën blazes a trail (again)

There’d been semi-auto

’boxes before the DS. But

Citroën’s masterpiece makes

a compelling case for manual

gear selection without the

clutch-pedal hassle. Hydraulics

do the hard work, disconnecting

drive and selecting each new

ratio as you glide from one

pavement cafe to the next.

Porsche’s PDK:

an auto and

a track-ready

semi-auto in

one

Koenigsegg’s

Regera: like a Prius

but without the

affordability

Hydraulic

coupling

connect’s the

Regera’s V8 and

its rear wheels

1955

1968

NEW

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