The concept of mating an automatic gearbox to a motorcycle engine is not new and a few bike manufacturers have already produced models with that setup in the past. The M3W is already powered by a 2-litre V-Twin engine not too different to that of a stock Harley-Davidson.
How about the idea of fitting a different torque converter and flywheel to that fitted in the MX5? That could smooth over the "lumpiness" of that engine?
Paddle shift is really no different from the traditional floor shift manual: Instead of reaching down to the gear lever, let your fingers do it instead without lifting your hands from the steering wheel.
The previous generation of automated manual boxes have this dreadful lag between gear changes and is especially noticeable when changing up from 1st to 2nd (though it gets better changing in the higher gears). Jeremy Clarkson found this when he was testing the Aston DB9 on
Top Gear.
But the current generation of these boxes is a delight to use - the 6-speed ZF box in the Max is such a variation; and going up and down the box is practically seamless even when I'm changing gears in sequential (manual) mode..
In a nutshell, I found it physically impossible to change gears as fast as the ZF box. (Any Aero owner with this box fitted to his car can vouch for that.)
