Downshifting for Normal Driving

[quk@sievers.com (Phil Payne)]

In message <32FA54CC.2C3@tiac.net> Allan Jones writes:

>   I'm sorry, I don't know everything and I probably should know this,
> but what is double clutching?

Ah.  Someone else who learnt to drive sometime after the mid-1960s.
 
In olden days, gearboxes didn't have this "syncromesh" thing.  You had to push 
the clutch in, disengage gear, let the clutch out, push it in again, and then 
select the next gear.
 
That's essentially what "double declutching" is - using the clutch to change 
the gearbox's speed rather than the syncro rings.  Archiac, but highly useful 
in emergencies.  Plus the clutch is an industrial strength abrasion pad, and 
the syncro rings are sweet little bits of sexy engineering that still (somehow) 
now manage to survive hundreds of thousands of miles ...
 
If you want to look for a minor engineering miracle - that's the one.

--
 Phil Payne
 phil@sievers.com
 Committee Member, UK Audi [ur-]quattro Owners Club