I love you guys that think that an upshift requires a double clutch. Do you even know what a double clutch does to the gear stalks in the trans. Think about it a while and figure it out. It is not necessary. For downshift, yes it is good.
Skipping gears causes no problems. If your gearing can hold the speed then go to the highest gear you have as soon as you get to crusing speed. Please dont go through all the gears all the time. It is just wearing your synchros for no good reason.
Now, to the basis for this whole thread. Shifting. I read the techniques on that web page and I immediatley began to laugh. That is a load of sh*t. You will hit gears you don't want or end up grinding the crap out of your synchros.
At a BMW school (taking in my Civic), a national driver of a Speedvision 3 series BMW gave the best tidbit of information I have ever heard on shifting.
Pay attention now, this is really difficult: Hold your shifter with only 3 fingers!!! Not the palm of your hand with your fingers monkey-gripping the shifter so hard that you have no feel of the linkage to the transmission.
Use your thumb, index and middle fingers only and just at the finger tips. This will take a little time to get used to but it works better than anything. This increases the feel of the shifter linkage and using fingers reduces the weight you can shift with and this allows the sychros to work properly and at a speed that they will not grind.
Alternative - use 4 fingers (no pinky finger) if the 3 fingers is too unstable.
The race driver said that this technique alone will save your transmission and allow you to win races. This translates into a transmission that will last forever on the street.
