SMG or no?

[Ginger]

you can use them both at the same time in normal operation if you want.

That's called heel/toe and all the (fast) racers do it faster than you can stick mashed potatoes to RJ's wall. Most of the gain is because humans can't match revs for downshift as well as computers can. No matter how much awesomeness you have, a computer will always beat you on speed and efficiently in the long run. I don't think any amount of redesign will make a difference because it's pretty much impossible to engineer out the imperfection of humans as long as they have input that matters.

But precise downshifting occurs while doing a different action - braking. How does reducing the time that you spend doing two things (when the braking action takes longer, anyways) reduce overall laptimes?

Case in point - there's a video floating around the intArw3b that details two laps, one by Rubens Barichello, one by FastManMikey (if I remember the right drivers). The better driver had almost no time between braking and accelerating - he was using his left foot on the brake and his right foot on the gas. You could see the slower driver, who was braking and accelerating with his right foot, losing time in the sections where the those techniques were were different. He was losing places elsewhere, too, but that's just an example.

Another example I learned about during the visit to Ferrari. The Challenge cars use the SMG gearboxes and there was one already very quick driver... he couldn't get his head around using his left foot for the brake and keeping his right poised over the gas. They safety wired his left foot to the brake of a slushbox rental car and once he got used to doing so, his laptimes dropped.

I understand that the SMG systems adds complication with the computer and pump... and also that a sequential box isn't viable on the street for cars. I'm addressing track only stuff at this point really.

Given that the real benefits of the clutchless manual come from eliminating the third pedal why not just design a different control system? Yes, quicker shifts matter, but making shifts fast is easier and cheaper to address when that's all the system has to do (eg - remove special computer operation of rams, and blipping, etc. etc.).