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At HPDE events (in my manual car, not my auto Jaguar), i've always been tought to keep my hands on the wheel in the 3 and 9 position, and to never "shimmy" my hands in the turns. I would think having the paddles wheel-mounted so that they are also always in the 3/9 positions would be preferable, versus having to take your hand off the wheel to get to the paddle.
Originally Posted by 10 XF Premium
I wish Jaguar would go away from the wheel mounted paddles and mount them to the column instead.
They are almost impossible to use if you are turning the wheel.
The best shifter paddles I have ever used is the Mitsubishi Evo X MR. They are big, fixed on the column and are always were you expect them to be.
Here is a picture if you guys have not seen them before.
I have a car with column mounted paddles and another with steering wheel mounted paddles. At times, I have wished for the opposite setup while driving both.
In the end, these are road cars, and situations encountered in every day driving are quite different, when gearshifts may be performed while turning or in a bend for convenience and comfort reasons, and without the car under significant cornering loads. For example, I find the wheel mounted paddles become irritating on the road when I am making a 90 degree or greater turn and trying to shift from first to second. It is impossible to keep your hands at the 'original' 9 and 3 position in such a scenario, and I find myself grabbing for a nonexistent paddle at the 'true' 3 o'clock position.
Conversely, in bends requiring less lock, when I can keep my hands at the original 9 and 3 the whole time, the column mounted paddles become annoying.
I don't find the above really ends up being a factor on a circuit, as most gear changes are done in a straight line or close to a straight line, for obvious reasons.
It's probably worth pointing out that most frustrations with wheel or column mounted could be mitigated (if not solved) by using larger paddles. That's what I really like about what OP's posting here - they're larger and more usable than the original (although I like the light-up + and - signs on the originals).
Also, one thing I liked about my BMWs was that each paddle was able to do both + and -, depending on whether you pushed them forward or pulled them back. That way, it didn't matter which one you hit, although you had to remember which direction did which.
One thing to watch out for though with larger paddles - clumsy drivers.
I have paddle extensions fitted, and almost every time SWMBO drives the car she bumps the left paddle when fiddling with the LH stalk, before setting off. Bingo, the car is in 1st gear paddle shift mode, she's got 90 degrees of steering lock on, and she's panicking that it's revving it's **** off! Every time I have to tell her to hold the RH paddle in for about 3 seconds to get it back to "D", but off course when she has 90 degrees of steering lock on she fumbles around for ages trying to find the RH paddle. A couple of times now I've had to resort to telling her to keep her foot on the brake while I use the rotary dial to select "N", and then back to "D". Luckily this hasn't happened (yet) while in traffic!
"True racecars have the paddles on the wheel," is what one of my buddies who used to race Formula cars told me when I complained about them while he was in the car with me one day. When I told him that, regardless, I think I'd prefer mine on the column, as these cars are rarely tracked, you'd have thought I'd slapped him in the face. He couldn't believe my apparent lack of reverence for the sport, the origins of paddles, or Jaguar's commitment to getting it right. Whatever.
Side note - didn't BMW do away with the capability of each paddle to shift both up and down, to the more traditional left-down, right-up, exclusively?
11-05-2015, 06:14 PM
Paddle Shifters
