Gated shifter plate

I've been working on my console and instead of a leather boot, it'd sure be nice to have a shifter gate like the Audi R8. Anyone know what the dimsensions of the slots should be for the Graziano?

V12 ESPRIT here on the forum has an original R8 shifter...he loaned it to us when we worked on the Graz. cableshift system with Brandwood...

I have the R8 shifter plate on my manual tranny, mostly street R8. I hate the shifter plate with a passion. All you get is a loud metallic clank sound as the shifter makes contact with the metal sides of the shifter plates. This destroys the driver's ability to feel the gears actually engage. And it's what's happening just underneath the pretty plate that's important.

I agree that it looks kinda cool, if you never drive that seriously. And yep, I can see why it would seem attractive. But for me, that attraction for the shifter plate doesn't go very deep. I never realized how much I valued feeling the gears engage. I have missed so many shifts with the damn thing. In my 2 pure race cars its a completely different reality. Hope this helps.

Hmmm...I thought it looked cool, but had no idea it would hinder shifting. Leather shifter boot it is.

Yeah....it's one of those things that seems great on paper and looks cool.....but not so great in reality.

Great insight, I always thought the opposite would be true and that it would help positive shifting. Thanks, I know my direction now. :thumbsup:

Yes, I WAS going to use the R8 gated shifter on mine. Might have to reconsider after your input there John....
Maybe should get in one (R8) and try it out first.

Maybe I should add this... I live in a small town ski resort with only a narrow, two lane, no passing zone highway going thru the valley. I do not try to drive sport cars there. Most of the sport driving that I do is actually on a track or on some very remote, twisting road mountain hiway. So maybe this makes me more of a serious technical driver than most. Understand that everything I said about the Audi R8 gated shifter plate is 100% true. But also be aware that VERY, VERY few other R8 manual shift drivers seem to care anything about the problem that I so strongly emphasize. Another race car driver guy that I co-drive with sometimes, also hates this same aspect of the R8's shifter. But also understand that there are almost no complaints made by the majority of R8 owners.
... again, I hope this helps.

Nothing wrong with a leather boot and an aluminum trim ring either.

On my f-cars I really like the shift gate. I'm not exactly sure why, but it seems to help with shifting frankly...you certainly don't get the wrong gear at the wrong time. My 7yo son likes it too when he shifts for me from the passenger seat....

Hi Guys..
I was thinking of machining up a gated shift plate for the GT40 I am building and was interested to read about the noise when using it.
After Bodhi mentioned it I thought about an aluminium top plate with an UHMWPE plate bolted underneath with a 0.5mm smaller cut out to stop the metallic sound.

Cheers Craig Young

Would it be possible to apply either a rubber sleeve or leather sleeve to the shifter arm? I would think this would stop the metal to metal problems, when shifting and not take away from the feel of the gear engagement.

IMO, the noise is not the problem....it's the mechanical restriction of the plate itself that interferes with shift feel.