How To Drive A Motorcar
A Key To The Subtleties Of Motoring

THE SLIPPING CLUTCH CHANGE car is accelerating well, suddenly close the throttle, which causes a very momentary over-running of the engine by the car, and this considerably reduces the pressure between the teeth of the wheels in the gearbox which are transmitting the drive, and so enables the lever to move them out of engagement without undue force. The movement, if properly executed, will on some ears really make a thoroughly good change. However, this sort of gear-changing should not be attempted by the novice or even an ordinarily good driver, and experts would be better advised if they leit it alone as it must inevitably put more strain on the ■change-speed, mechanism than when it is moved with the clutch disengaged. Changing Down It is in the changing down that the majority of drivers find their greatest difficulty. We will deal again with a four-speed gearbox, as the advice in. con- nection therewith may, when taken with minor modifications, be held to refer to a three-speed gearbox also. The state of affairs is now entirely opposite to what it is when changing up, and, instead oi making a pause, it is necessary, in order to make a good change, to accelerate the layshaft. Now, there are severa ways of doing this, but the whole of the writer’s experi- ence has tended to confirm his original belief that tne double declutch method is better, and more universally reliable than any other, consequently the advice will be mainly restricted to this movement. Therefore, in the vernacular, we will “ tick off ” the method of layshait acceleration, which will not be recommended tor general use, quite briefly. The Slipping Clutch Change Instead of wholly disengaging the top gear to go into the third, the clutch is slipped, and the gear (ever can then bring the gears out of engagement against this slipping drive. When the two gear wheels are quite disengaged the layshaft is automatically speeded up by the engine running faster, and the next gear can _e engaged. In many cases this works quite well, but m a good many more it does not, and it must always 95