| 摘要 |
A vehicle gear selection apparatus, a kit for vehicle gear selection apparatus and a method of selecting a vehicle gear, in particular in rally and race cars, comprises: A vehicle gear changing apparatus 1 which includes a gear selection actuator (6, fig 3) which is arranged, in use, to enable a gear to be changed by initiating means, wherein the vehicle gear changing apparatus comprises sensing means 10 to distinguish between an initiation by a first initiating means (30, fig.5) such as a glove with metallic inserts (32) and an initiation by a second initiating means such as a hand glove with no metallic inserts. Preferably the actuator is a ring 8 of rigid material disposed around the steering column 2 with a plurality of sensors disposed around the ring. A spring bias means (26, fig.3) is used to return the actuator to its normal resting position. The sensors are used to detect the metal inserts in one of the hand gloves which initiates a gear up change on movement of the actuator. If the actuator is moved and no metallic inserts detected then this initiates a gear down change. The sensors may be inductive proximity sensors. |
