"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Fredxx wrote:
On 26/05/2021 14:30, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

snip

One gearbox has the odd gears, the other the even. And changing
between say 1st to 2nd is done by swapping the clutches. When the car
is
in 2nd gear, the other box has selected 3rd, and the process repeated.
This arrangement can give a virtually seamless power flow under pretty
well all conditions.

A friend of mine remarked how dangerous these were.

He's a nutcase, then.

Lets suppose you want instant power, with a manual you can anticipate
how long it takes to go from say 3rd to 2nd gear.

As you can also with modern autos.

On one of these the gearboxes the parallel box will be sitting in 4th
gear, and so has to make the relevant movements to go into second before
operating the clutch. Thus maybe sitting on the wrong side of the road
whilst wanting to pass a slow vehicle for much longer than expected.

It kicks down far quicker than the average driver can manage with a manual
box. If you see a gap that allows you to overtake, you have to change down
in a manual.

No you don’t, I never do that.

This takes more time than it takes an auto to change down
by flooring the pedal. On either, you can grind along in a
low gear waiting for the opportunity to overtake.

Or you are driving a car with a decent power to weight
ratio which can overtake fine without changing down.

This was his take and I confess not to ever having driven one.

I doubt he has either.