As we have long known and celebrated here at BangShift, it isn’t just us Yanks that are into high performance driving with a manual transmission. All over the world people revel in ripping gears, making laps, heel toe shifting, or BangShifting their way down a quarter mile strip. It makes you feel more in control of the car, more part of the machine, and it is another level of accomplishment when you are able to “out perform” someone who is letting the transmission shift itself.
In this video from Australia we ride in a cool Ford Falcon XY GT. These are legendary cars down there and for good reason. They represent the muscle car that Australians fantasized about for years. This one likely has a Cleveland motor in it and it has a four speed top loader transmission for the pilot to work. He’s employing a Hurst Verti-Gate shifter and as you will see, the man does a fine job of operating it.
You do not have to adjust your sets, folks. The guy is gripping and ripping with his left hand as the steering wheel is on the right in Australia. As odd as we think this looks, they probably think every one of our stick shift videos from here in the USA is equally as wonky.
The motor sounds really healthy and the driver makes the shifts as the car sprints down the eighth mile course. We’re not sure of the drag strip but we’re guessing an Aussie reader will fill us in thusly!
I think the only way I’d be able to bang shifts with my wrong hand would be with a vertical gate shifter.