you said you where going to have a man shift auto anyway, you could run the throttle control signal through a momentary nc switch and push it when your shifting.

Thanks for showing me this. I've since been in contact with them, and they are helping me think this through, and the capability of making their system work (and it would save me and awful lot of design and development time).

I know I COULD use a manual. There was never any question about that. Automatics do have their lure though. Easy to interface to a controller (should one exist, or build it myself), and thus perfectly optimized performance (although I suppose I could use a number of sensors and some electro-mechanical parts to operate the clutch faster and smoother than any human ever could), but in trying to get the absolute best performance in shift time while maintaining smooth operation, I think an automatic is the way to go.

I've also started looking at other ways around this little shifting issue. I'm looking into some electromagnetic clutches that I could put on the input to the transmission. Again, this is all just garbage festering in the swamp that'* my mind. I really have nothing concrete yet.

Although paddle-shifters of ebony have a very strong appeal in the black leather interior..........