Editing Double-clutching (technique) (section)

{{short description|Method of shifting gears}}
{{About|the driving technique|other uses|Double clutch (disambiguation)}}
{{Distinguish|Dual-clutch transmission}}
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{{Confusing|date=August 2009}}
{{No footnotes|date=August 2009}}
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'''Double-clutching''' (also called '''double de-clutching''' outside of the United States) is a method of shifting gears used primarily for vehicles with an [[unsynchronized manual transmission]], such as commercial trucks and specialty vehicles. While double clutching<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/double-Clutch |title=Double-Clutch |publisher=Dictionary.com |accessdate=August 9, 2012}}</ref> is not necessary in a vehicle that has a synchronized manual transmission, the technique is often thought to be advantageous for smoothly downshifting in order to accelerate but can, even when done correctly, increase wear on the synchronizers which normally equalize transmission input and output speeds to allow downshifting.

With this method, instead of pushing the [[clutch]] in once and shifting directly to another gear, the driver first engages the transmission in neutral before shifting to the next gear. The clutch is depressed and released with each change. A related downshifting or rpm-matching technique is [[heel-and-toe shifting]], in which the throttle is ''blipped'' (i.e. momentarily opened during downshifting) by the driver's heel during braking.