in racing, what does double clutching mean???

Answer 1

The correct term is "Double de-clutching". Several of the above answers are on the right lines but none make a solid explanation of its purpose.

Firstly, yes it IS pressing the clutch pedal in twice, once into neutral then clutch up. As the clutch rises, blip the accelerator pedal to match engine speed to the new gear you are about to select. Push clutch in again as you selct your new gear and release the pedal again. -It takes practice but when done accurately the result is a very smooth gearchange.

A smooth gearchange means there is no sudden change in road speed due to re-engagement of the clutch. This prevents excessive wear on the clutch but more importantly prevents a sudden change in the vehicle's weight distribution.

When a car slows down weight is transferred towards the front wheels with a sudden increase in grip at the front of the car. Of course there is a corresponding reduction in grip at the rear wheels. This can result in the car 'spinning' if the limit of tyre grip is exceeded.

At normal speeds under normal conditions the tyres are nowhere near their limit, so there is no big problem. But a racing driver is trying to drive as quickly as possible, often VERY close to the limit of grip. -Hence smooth gearchanging becomes extremely important.

One further point worth mentioning is the technique "Heel and Toe". The PURPOSE of this technique is similar to above, but it allows the driver to be braking at the same time -The right foot making use of the brake pedal AND the gas pedal simultaneously! It requires practice to get the engine speed perfectly matched but means the driver can exploit even more of the grip offerred for longer, particularly on entry into a bend or corner.

Another advanced racing technique is "left foot braking" but at the risk of becoming boring I'll not go on...

Answer 2

Double Clutching In Racing

Answer 3

Most of the replies are correct but how does this apply to racing? I raced for quite a few years and my son also (here in England). Neither of us used double declutching.
My race car was using a normal synchromesh gear box and I literally "smashed" it into gears. The fastest gear changes (according to my datalogger) were about 0.2 seconds. The gearbox needed rebuilding every 200 miles or so of racing. Double declutching is simply too slow.

My son's last race car had a straight cut gearbox (no synchromesh) and, apart from getting it off the line and some rare downshifts, he did not use the clutch at all. It was a sequential box and built very strong so it needed one rebuild per season only. Double decluching would have cost him 1.5 seconds per lap at least. Gear change speed? About 0.04 seconds!

Answer 4

It really applies to any vehicle that has a standard stick shift. It means that you clutch (push down the clutch pedal) once to move the car out of gear and then clutch again to move it into the next gear. this is different than most standard shifting when you can move smoothly from one gear to another while only pushing down the clutch once.

Answer 5

When you go to shift you press the clutch to shift out of gear and then release. When you go to put it in the next gear you hit the clutch pedal again. I know it sounds complicated but it really isn't. Just a simple term to describe a different kind of shifting.

Answer 6

Technically, you press the clutch to go to neutral, release the clutch pedal make a breif accelaration, press the clutch again put your gear on and release the pedal.

Answer 7

you press the clutch once to go into gear and press the clutch again to take it out of gear

Answer 8

very likely, the same thing it means in trucking. In trucking it means you put in the clutch twice instead of once, cause the engine doesn't free up sometimes by just putting it in once, so you put it in, let it out, and then push it in again, and then, while holding it in, shift.

Answer 9

not a pro but I think it means down shifting once to increase rpm before shifting up two gears.