Ferrari’s new stick-shift hypercar, the 12 Cylinder Manual, is a manual transmission in name only. Users can operate the clutch, change gears, even stop the car, but behind the scenes is the car’s dual-clutch automatic transmission.
For some, this news means the days of Stick Ferrari have returned. However, others have decided to keep things as linear and authentic as possible. talking to carbAt the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the company’s design director, Nathan Malinick, said its buyers want a connection, not something “synthetic”.
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“I think, if you look across the board, what our customers want is drama,” Malinik said. “They want the story. They want the experience. They want something they can relate to, a physical, authentic connection with the car, not something synthetic.”
In Malinik’s eyes, there is no alternative. The company’s latest hypercar, the Venom F5-M, has a true six-speed manual transmission. It’s attached to just as many things: a 6.6-liter twin-turbocharged “Fury” V8 that makes 2,031 horsepower (a full 214 more horsepower than originally claimed).
This figure makes the American hypercar the third most powerful in the world and the only one with a six-speed manual. Only the Koenigsegg Gemera, which makes 2,300 hp, and the Rimac Nevera R, which makes 2,107 hp, produce more power.
“You see a lot of synthetic attempts like six-speeds or gated gearboxes, and that’s nice. But it doesn’t compare to a true linked mechanical, you know, clutch-pedal in, first-gear experience. And you throw in all five senses, as I said – sound, smell, look, feel. That’s what they want,” Malnik continued.
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Demand is strong at Hennessy. Over the next year and a half of Venom production, the company would produce nothing but manuals. “It’s what people want. Everyone wants a manual.”
The demand for transmission is skyrocketing. The company plans to use the transmission in the F5 successor.
