According to Barnard, he had been searching for a way to eliminate the old manual transmission in racing cars since he had designed the Chaparral 2K that had taken Johnny Rutherford to victory in the 1980 Indianapolis 500. This was purely from an aerodynamic perspective as the manual transmission (usually located on the drivers' right-hand side) had meant that a car's monocoque had to be wider than desirable to accommodate the stick shift and its link to the gearbox located at the rear of a car. The semi-automatic transmission with its paddle-shifters located behind the steering wheel, along with an electrohydraulically-operated clutch pedal, had eliminated the need for this and had allowed Barnard to design the Ferrari with its distinctive sharp nose.