TO PADDLE OR NOT TO PADDLE
by Paul Marinelli
Who would have thought that one of the most divisive issues at the top level of Australian motorsport comes down to this: to paddle or not to paddle? “Paddle” refers to the process of changing gears by using paddle levers mounted behind a steering wheel as opposed to using a prime-mover-inspired gearshift handle located towards the centre of the cabin. Many of you are no doubt driving cars fitted with paddle gearshift controls these days, enabling any normally mild-mannered automatic car driver to flick into Lewis Hamilton spec, furiously clicking the levers and watching the numbers change on the dash as they turn corners or accelerate away from red lights. Some of you — and it is a very declining number — are still operating a foot-operated clutch and a five- or six-speed manual gearshift, the good old-fashioned way to really drive a car, but not so much fun in peakhour Melbourne, Sydney or Auckland traffic. In Supercars, the debate continues about their
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proposed next-generation racing car blueprint, referred to as Gen 3. The idea is to bring the cars more in line with current high-performance sports cars on our roads. This is supposed to encourage more manufacturer involvement, given that only Ford is currently involved at that level. Commodores are still competing, but in line with the GM-engineered demise of Holden, the plan is to replace these with another current GM product, the Camaro. The idea behind Gen 3 is to accommodate these cars and to allow easier access for other manufacturers to become involved in the future. It is also supposed to reduce the cost of building and maintaining Supercars, something that previous changes, particularly the most recent Car of the Future concept, spectacularly failed to do. The process to make Gen 3 become a reality has not been simple. Along with the numerous engineering challenges, there are the problems of differentsized engines being able to achieve the same power output, aerodynamic equality and selecting the highly reliable yet lower maintenance components to be used as control parts across the board.
