Re: Downshifting for Normal Driving

[Jon Blake <jonb@u.washington.edu>]

I disagree that today double de-clutching is useless. I do alot of
mountain driving over the Cascades in Washington state and a lot of
snow/ice driving going over there in the winter. How, I ask rhetorically,
do you down shift at speed to either have engine braking on long down
mountain stretches or to slow under control in marginal friction
conditions?  Seems to me I don't want to simply put the clutch in, let the
syncros do their business, and then let it out forcing the clutch surfaces
to even out transmission revs with engine revs. Am I missing something
here?

	- jon

On Thu, 6 Feb 1997 escoses@earthlink.net wrote:

> It used to be called "double de-clutching" and was a quite common
> procedure before cars had syncromesh gearboxes. Even then, it was usual
> for, say a 3 speed gear box to have syncromesh only in 2nd and 3rd, so
> you would have to double de=clutch to get into 1st gear from 2nd.
> 
> You did that by coming out of 2nd normally, with the gear lever in
> neutral, you accelerated the engine briefly to balance the speed of the
> engine with that of the shaft in the gear box, hit the clutch and and
> engage 1st. 
> 
> Good drivers used to be able to shift gears without using the clutch at
> all. they did it by having a good ear for the right RPM at which
> everything was balanced.
> 
> Double de-clutching (or double clutching) today is a waste of gasoline.
> But if you have a high Db exhaust sounds good......but useless!
> 
> Take care,
> 
> Graham
>