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The karting field is among the most stressful for mechanical components with performance that is reduced to scale equivalent to the big sisters, F1.
For this reason, the electronic rotary actuator of our ONE, SPORT and RACE electronic paddle shifter is equipped with a unique planetary gearbox.
The design of the two stages of the gearbox allows us to get more than 20’000 RPM input and more than 1’200 RPM as output.
The reliability tested on track by the current more than 160 drivers around the world has exceeded the threshold of 500 lt without any type of extraordinary maintenance carried out.
This goal has been achieved thanks to a careful design of the gears of the small gearbox, made of cemented steel and generous size.
A gearbox difficult to imagine from a technical point of view, a jewel of which our team is very proud, and always at the service of our drivers.
Modern electronic paddle shifters must guarantee very fast shifting without power loss. Currently most use the cut-off system to increase the gear, it works interrupting for a small amount of time the current to the coils and in some cases to the injectors.
This solution with a high cutting time offers a soft but slow shifting that causes a fuel accumulation inside the cylinders that is then combusted at a single moment when the power restart, causing violent accelerations and stress on the mechanical components.
The reduction of the cutting time instead offers very fast changes, which require an excellent set-up of the gearbox to avoid damage and a very violent behavior of the vehicle during the shifting that tends to break the setup of the vehicle.
For this reason, we have introduced in our new GCU (gear control unit) for 2024 the new patented ACS (advance cut-off system) able to read and process engine rpm data and individually select the sparks to be broken in an adjustable amount via APP BT. This innovative solution allows to obtain a mix of the two effects described above obtaining fluid and very fast shifting with a low drop of the engine revolutions.
Generally, each paddle shifter acts in a one-way during the implementation. Then at the pressure of one of the two paddles at the steering wheel the actuator will push or pull the gear lever and then wait for the return to the neutral position of the lever.
The return time is a dead time during repeated changes and the duration of this phase depends by the type of spring inserted in the engine gearbox.
In order to increase the repetition speed, especially in downshift and with pneumatic paddle shifter AIR, our GCU is able to identify the moment when the stroke was performed completely and provides a retrograde pulse to be able to return the gear lever to the neutral position faster, increasing so the overall gear speed in downshift.
Our paddle shifter has always been put to the test by drivers from all over the world and in all categories.
The hinges of the paddles, which are in some categories very exposed, are not far behind.
A striking example are go-karts where there is no protection on the back of the steering wheel that can limit the impact of hinges with external bodies.
The problem lies in the fact that the insertion of external bodies between the moving parts of the hinges can hinder or even block their movement making the paddle shifter unusable during a race.
For this reason, our team have designed the new anti-intrusion hinges, with limited movements that can guarantee the minimum possibility of intrusion of foreign bodies such as rubber chips.
An unconventional design with a countertrend, but that is able to guarantee an excellent reliability and safety during the use of our electro-actuated paddle shifter.
These hinges from 2024 will equip all our products, to ensure the quality that has always distinguished us.
Any driver who approaches the purchase of a paddle shifter for his vehicle collides with the offer on the
market of electronic systems and pneumatic systems, but what is the paddle shifter that suits me?
The answer lies in understanding the real mechanical/electronic needs and abilities of the new lucky owner.
Electronic paddle shifter with magnetic linear actuator like our FAST kit are able to offer amazing performance, very close to hydraulic gearboxes, but require a not trivial assembly and set-up. So, it is better to approach this solution if you have good mechanical with mechatronic knowledge. Last but not least, if you want to pull out the best from these changes you will need to use an additional lipo battery.
Faced with this, there is no better solution than this immediately after the very expensive hydraulic paddle shifter.
If you are looking for a simple product, with few adjustments, easy to assemble, and that tolerates without problems some assembly inaccuracies then surely the AIR paddle shifter is the right one for you.
Not only that, but it is also the right solution in case you approach long-lasting races or in harsh environments. In short, a paddle shifter that gives the serenity of a faithful friend who will never left you even if a little mistreated.
When we comes to downshifting, repetition speed is crucial. It often happens to downshift abruptly 3/4 consecutive gears and having the right timing in certain conditions can be difficult.
During down shift the drivers could get two different miss:
As first they could downshift when the RPM are too high, with over revolution risk.
As second they could dowshift too many gears in short time (over the possibility of engine gearbox attuation).
For this reason, our GCUs are able to store the downshift inputs and cadence them with correct timing and once the RPM comes to acceptable value, maximizing the speed through a close loop with the gearbox sensor or with a manually defined split time and measured with an average of the switching times.
Each gearbox has a different retroaction time that must be respected, this system guarantees perfect downshift that are made in the correct times.
This hydraulic paddle shifter represents the best technological excellence in the automotive industry. We are talking about an electro-hydraulic system equipped with a fully machined hydraulic unit with a compact design that can offer up to 100 bar of pressure that guarantees very fast shift (28ms).
Hydraulic systems, in contrast to pneumatic ones, use hydraulic oil, which as such is incompressible. This eliminates the elastic effect of air system, greatly increasing the reactivity of the system. The presence of the micro-expansion tank allows the fluid pressure to be kept constant during the most demanding downshift with exceptional repeatability.
An F1 system, which also brings with it a considerable cost that often precludes accessibility.